Meeting the Swan Family
by withgirl
Summary: How would Snow and Charming react if they were to find out that Emma was adopted? Will they deal with having her adoptive family visit for a week? To make matters worse, the Swan family are under the impression that Emma and Regina are a couple, how long will the pair be able to keep up the facade? [Emma X Regina pairing]
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

Snow skilfully manoeuvred the pram to the front door of her apartment and took the opportunity to yawn.

Halfway through a lesson, she had gotten a call from the day care that Neal had a fever, so naturally she had rushed over to get him, not even thinking about the fact that there were plenty of other people she could have asked.

Opening the door, she heard the distinctive sound of her daughter's voice and soon gathered that she was on the phone, so as difficult as it was, she managed to enter the apartment as quietly as possible.

Deciding to leave the pram outside for the moment, she picked up Neal and the nappy bag and was halfway across to the kitchen when some of the blonde's words began to register.

"I know it's been a while…how many times do I have to say sorry?"

Snow tilted her head and thought whether Emma was talking to someone from her past, something that she had never talked much about.

Knowing it was wrong, she stood completely still, hoping that she would get some information that her daughter would be reluctant to give her, but what she got was not something she wanted to hear.

"Of course you can visit, just not tomorrow…because I'm busy...I'm sorry, mom."

At her last word, Snow let out a little squeak and dropped the nappy bag to the floor, which caused Emma to turn on her heels, the saviour's eyes instantly widened.

"I'll call you back in a minute," she quickly said into the phone and then hung up, leaving no room for debate.

Holding up both hands, Emma said, "don't freak out."

Snow nodded, in somewhat of a trance, and just walked past Emma and over to the crib, where she lay her sleeping son down. She then turned back to the kitchen and began frantically looking for something, not that she knew what it was, she just needed to do something with her shaking hands.

Emma rolled her eyes and walked over to her mother, grabbing her hand, she said, "I said don't freak out, mom."

Snow clenched her jaw, usually she would be happy to hear that word come out of her daughter's mouth, but now that she compared it to whoever she had just said it to, it sounded much more forced.

"Who were you talking to?" she tried to ask as casually as possible.

Emma bit her lip and said, "if I'm going to explain this, you should probably call dad…"

The brunette looked down at her phone and began to mentally calculate how long it would take her husband to get home from the station and she shook her head, knowing how anxious she already was, she was sure that if she had to wait fifteen minutes, she would spontaneously combust.

The blonde rolled her eyes and waved her hand, the next moment, Prince Charming appeared in a cloud of white smoke with widened eyes.

He looked around the apartment and said, "can I please have warning next time?"

Snow shook her head and his smile sobered as he noticed her expression, "what happened?"

The saviour took a deep breath and said, "you should probably sit down for this…"

The blond man looked at his wife questioningly and she just pointed at the couch and went over and fell upon it herself.

David followed suit after throwing his daughter a confused looked and then he looked up at her expectantly.

Emma took a deep breath and then went to sit on the coffee table facing them, she had thought about revealing this piece of information to them, but she was afraid of hurting them.

"Mom…just heard me on the phone…" she began.

Snow let out a huff as it became clear that Emma was trying to stall the explanation she wanted to hear and said, "Emma was apparently on the phone with her 'mom'."

"Adoptive mom," Emma retorted instantly and then her head fell into her hands as she realised just how tactless that was.

"You were adopted?" Charming asked slowly, while instinctively bringing an arm around his very tense wife.

The blonde nodded and said, "I found out when I was sixteen…"

"You thought that they were your real parents?" Snow asked somewhat harshly.

Emma narrowed her eyes at her birth mother, she knew that the woman was not quite as obsessed with parents having to be biological since she had accepted Regina, but this was clearly just too close to home.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but to me…they are my real parents."

"But…" Snow said somewhat pathetically and David just squeezed her shoulder in support.

"For sixteen years, I thought they were my birth parents…" she began, only to be interrupted by her mother's question.

"Then how did you end up in prison and why didn't you keep Henry?"

Emma winced and David shot her a warning look.

The princess sighed and ran her hand over her face and then reached over to put a hand on her daughter's leg, "I'm sorry, sweetheart, I didn't mean it like that…"

The blonde nodded and swallowed hard, and continued, "when I found out I was adopted, I ran away thinking that I could find my 'real parents'…but instead I found Neal…everything I told you about him happened…" she said somewhat awkwardly, she sincerely didn't want to rehash that particular story. "Anyway, when I was in prison, I realised that I screwed up and that I shouldn't have run away from a pretty perfect life. I was going to write to them, but obviously they got called since I was seventeen and they literally showed up to visit when I picked up the pen…"

Snow nodded for her to continue when her breath hitched.

Emma took a deep breath and said, "I said I was sorry but they just accepted me back, they said that I was their daughter and blood couldn't change that…"

David felt as though he was about to cry, he knew that he should have been in some way jealous, but all he could think was how thankful he was to these people. He had spent a lot of time thinking about what it must have been like for his little girl all alone and pregnant in a prison cell, but now he knew she wasn't alone and he could only feel relief. His wife, on the other hand, was another story.

"Mo…err…Natalie told me that if I wanted to keep Henry then I should, she offered to look after him while I finished school, but…we weren't the richest of families. I wanted to give Henry his best chance and that was Regina. Thinking back, I did have this strange feeling that I had to give him up, so maybe it had something to do with the curse breaking?"

Snow nodded, it all made complete sense, but she didn't want it to have to make sense, she had this strange feeling about sharing her daughter, it hurt to know that there were people who were actually capable of telling embarrassing childhood stories about her.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" David asked softly, and Emma seemed to visibly relax as it seemed that at least one of her parents understood, or at least wasn't on the verge of a breakdown.

"Well when I first came to Storybrooke, Henry told me that Snow was my mother, and every time I nearly talked about them, it just felt wrong. I know that I didn't believe that Mary Margaret was my birth mother, but on some level, telling you felt wrong, like it would hurt you."

The brunette finally looked at her daughter in the eyes and she sighed, she could see that the woman was desperately looking for some kind of approval, like she believed that she was actually mad with her. She finally realised that the way she was acting was hurting her child and reached across to hold her hand.

Emma smiled in return and squeezed the other woman's hand, "I know I should have told you earlier…"

Snow shook her head and said, "you told us now…but your m…she said that she wanted to visit?"

The blonde raised her eyebrow and said, "well…I said no, Storybrooke isn't exactly the safest of places."

"Nothing has happened since Zelena, and this is probably one of the only tines that the town line will be passable," David laughed, "if they want to visit, then they should."

The sheriff took a deep breath, she had hoped that this could be a revelation for another day, but it was somewhat necessary if she was going to tell them the next part of it.

"There's something else…"

Each of her parents nodded in encouragement, they were pretty sure that there wasn't anything that could match what they had just learned.

Emma bit her lip, she was beginning to wish that she knew more about the Enchanted Forest so that she at least knew what to expect, but she decided to just go for it, "I'm…gay…"

Snow blinked a few times and then just nodded, "okay…" she said just wondering how she could have never noticed before.

"You're not mad?" the other woman said, suddenly looking like a very vulnerable teenager.

The brunette shook and her head and Charming explained, "it's not really a big deal in the Enchanted Forest."

A smile spread across her face, but it suddenly dropped when she realised what came next, "during the missing year…well Regina didn't know that I was adopted, so she kind of wiped my memories of my childhood, so I didn't talk to them for a year…When I got my memories back, I came up with a lie that I was in an amazing relationship and that I didn't realise how long it had been. They asked what her name was and I panicked and said…Regina…"

The colour drained from Snow's face and Emma quickly held up her hands.

"Calm down, it was just the first name that came to my head at the time…but it's also the reason that they can't visit…"

David looked between the two most important women in his face, he knew that the answer was obvious, but he wondered if it would even stand a chance of working.

"Well…they deserve to visit their…you…" he began, suddenly realising that she was someone else's daughter, but he quickly pushed that piece of information away for later. "Just ask Regina to pretend while they're here…"

"Are you insane?" Emma asked instantly, "she would fireball me if I even asked, plus she has Robin…"

David tilted his head at the hint of jealously but decided that it should also be pushed aside for now, "she would just be pretending and you two are kind of friends now…"

Emma looked to her mother who seemed to still be processing and decided that talking to Regina would at least get her out of here if her mother was to suddenly explode.

* * *

"You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend?" Regina repeated, which earned her a nod from the blonde standing in front of her couch.

"And you want me to pretend to be…" Henry said, clearly still only halfway to understanding.

Emma sighed and said, "my girlfriend's son…"

"Why?" Henry asked with a tilted head.

"Because they would freak out if they found out that I found my son, they would think that I would end up marrying Regina…"

The brunette looked between his mothers', trying to hide a smile at the possibility, he said, "why can't they think that?"

"Well for one…your mom has Robin and for two…err…"

"The two of us getting married would be the most ridiculous idea in the entire world?" Regina suggested, though Henry noticed that she wasn't quite as sure as she appeared to be. He wondered if Emma's superpower would pick up on it, if her shoulders slumping were anything to go by, he guessed that it didn't.

"Yeah…that…" the saviour said in a somewhat defeated tone, "so what do you say? They'll only be here for a week…tops."

Regina raised her eyebrow at the sheriff and thought about this, she would be lying if she said that she didn't find the blonde attractive, but she had certainly never thought about her in that way. Plus she had a boyfriend who was supposed to be her soulmate.

"One week?" she said for clarification.

"Yeah and then you can go back to being passive aggressive."

"I am not passive aggressive," the brunette said in faux outrage.

"Okay then…you can go back to being full on aggressive, is that a yes?"

Regina rolled her eyes and said, "I suppose it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."

The brunette would be lying if she said that she'd never thought about the possibility, but there was just too much against the two of them. The saviour's parents would never approve and she had her soulmate now. Even while with Robin, she'd considered the possibility once or twice, but she figured that these were just fantasies from a crush that she had long gotten over.

Emma bit her lip and considered her next words carefully, "there's one more thing…"

"What else could have possibly lied about?" the mayor sighed dramatically.

"Well…they think we've been together for a year…"

The brunette nodded for her to continue, though she had narrowed her eyes significantly.

"They think we live together…" the sheriff said awkwardly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Regina sighed.

Emma smirked at her frustration and said, "one week and I'll sleep in the guest room, we just need to make it look like I live here…"

"So you want me to trash my house, Swan, so your idiotic lie doesn't fall apart?"

"Oh, how hilarious, your majesty," the blonde replied sardonically, "I meant like personal items and pictures…"

Regina rolled her eyes and waved her hand, the next moment, some of the decorations changed and the photo frames were now containing pictures that should never exist, namely, pictures of the three of them together.

Emma went over and picked up a picnic that she had never attended and she allowed herself a moment to recognise just how much of a good couple they made.

"They should be here at about ten thirty tomorrow…so maybe we could have breakfast…"

"Henry has school and I start work at nine," Regina replied instantly.

"Dinner then?"

Regina rolled her eyes and said, "fine."

Emma smiled and then rocked on her heels for a moment, before she said, "I'll give you some peace then."

With that the blonde made her exit and Henry couldn't help noticing the disappointed look on his brunette mother's face.

* * *

Emma paced frantically outside Granny's, she was beginning to wonder whether there was an issue with the town line. She didn't feel like having to explain Storybrooke over the phone to her disappointed parents.

Finally though, she saw the mini bus that they had rented every year for trips, pulling up to the side of the road and she somehow felt a calming feeling come over her.

First to get out was Riley, her eleven year old sister, followed by Blake, her seventeen year old brother.

Riley ran straight up to her for a hug and Blake just tried to act cool and look down at his phone. Emma rolled her eyes and brought him into the hug, which he soon fell into.

A moment later, she heard the driver and passenger's side doors slam shut and she was soon engulfed in a hug by Natalie and Nathan Swan.

She hugged them back and then managed to say, "Crushing…my…ribs…."

They each laughed and pulled back, her brunette mother said, "sorry dear, we haven't seen you in such a long time…"

Emma felt guilt for a moment, but her mother's voice always calmed her down and she just smiled at them, "I know…I'm sorry…"

"It's fine, we're here now…" Nathan said with a smile as he inspected his daughter, his eyes instantly falling to the sheriff's badge on her waist.

Blake seemed to notice it at the same time and his eyes widened, "you have a gun…"

He reached out to touch it, but Emma swatted his hand away, he held his hand up to his chest as if it had actually hurt and said, "mom…"

Natalie shook her head and was about to reply when the sound of a stroller coming up behind them caught her attention and she turned to look at the two oddly familiar people. Looking at the man, she was trying to figure out where she had seen that eye colour before, when Blake started moaning.

"Mom…tell Emma that I can at least touch it."

"No you can't," the blonde retorted with her hand covering the holster.

"Just take the bullets out," he whined.

"No!"

Natalie finally turned back to look at her bickering children and rolled her eyes, "no Blake, you are not touching your sister's gun," she sighed and walked over to stand in front of Emma.

"You are such a douche, Emma," Blake grumbled.

"Blake," Natalie scolded.

"At least I have a gun," Emma said petulantly.

"Emma!" the older women tried again, though she had a feeling that neither of them were currently listening to her as they stared at each other with narrowed eyes.

Natalie just shook her head, "you're supposed to be an adult, Emma," she sighed.

Emma's attention was finally caught when someone cleared her throat and her eyes widened slightly as she finally realised that her birth parents were witnessing this whole scene and she could see just how tightly Snow was gripping the stroller.

The blonde shot her mother an apologetic look and turned back to her adoptive parents.

She knew that she had experienced some pretty strange stuff in her life, but she couldn't help the feeling that this was going to at least be in the top three.

"Err...this is Mary Margaret and David…Nolan, I used to be Mary Margaret's roommate, before she had Neal," she explained to her family, she quickly cleared her throat and Snow reluctantly smiled at the other woman. "This is Natalie, Nathan, Blake and Riley…Swan…"

Mary Margaret said nothing and David quickly nudged her and she managed to say through gritted teeth, "pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise," Natalie replied with a tilt of her head.

The brunette woman just nodded and proceeded to pass the little family and push the stroller into the diner, followed closely by David who managed to actually offer them a genuine smile.

* * *

"Snow, relax," David whispered from their position at the counter where she was clutching a cup of coffee, trying to covertly look over at Emma. Every time, she noticed just how comfortable her daughter looked in the presence of the people she considered to be intruders.

"How do you expect me to relax?" she shot back.

"Would you prefer that they didn't adopt her and that she grew up alone?"

"No, I would prefer if we didn't have to put her in that wardrobe, I would prefer if she grew up in the Enchanted Forest," she sighed deeply.

"Well that didn't happen," David said softly and brought his hand up to lightly run up and down his wife's back, "she found us, and she wouldn't be the person that we both love if she wasn't adopted by them."

Snow was silent for a moment before she admitted, "I know that, but doesn't make me feel any better about someone else being her mother."

She shot a look over her shoulder and as if to prove her point, she watched as Natalie brought up a napkin to wipe some sauce off Emma's face. For a full two seconds, the brunette waited for her daughter to bat the woman's hand away, but it didn't happen. Instead, Snow got to watch as Emma smiled at the older woman and thank her.

A cracking sound interrupted her stare and a burning on her hand made her look down to see the smashed coffee cup, with the steaming liquid covering her hand, though she had yet to register the pain.

"Mary Margaret," David said in concern and she instantly noticed that he was no longer whispering, she looked around and saw that everyone in the diner was looking at her. Her eyes eventually fell upon Emma, who looked at her for a moment and then whispered something to Natalie and stood from the booth. She was across the diner within seconds, and she quickly whispered something to Ruby, along the lines of 'watch Neal.'

Before Snow knew it, she was being pulled into the backroom of the diner and Emma was looking at her scorched hand.

"What happened?" she asked while placing her own hand over it and allowing her magic to flow until she had taken away the pain that was starting to develop, but had left a mark for other's benefit.

Dropping her mother's hand, she looked at her expectantly.

"It's nothing," Snow mumbled as she brought her hand up to inspect the damage, or at least what others would think was damage, and she sighed in relief when she saw that it was just red.

"It's not nothing, you destroyed a cup with your bare hands," the blonde retorted.

"She cleaned your face," Snow finally admitted after her daughter stared at her for a couple seconds.

Emma furrowed her brow and gave her father a quick look to see if he possibly had some explanation, but he looked just as confused as she felt.

"What?" the blonde finally laughed.

"She wiped some sauce off your face and you thanked her. When I tried to wipe some hot cocoa off your face last week, you dodged me and did it yourself," the brunette explained as she crossed her arms rather childishly.

"You're mad because I didn't let you clean me?" Emma tried to clarify without laughing, her mother was clearly on the verge of having some kind of mental breakdown that would either involve a lot of tears or a murder spree of every Swan she wasn't related to.

"This is not a joke, Emma," Snow mumbled, mostly because she was starting to realise just how ridiculous she was being.

The blonde raised her hands in a surrender like way and then walked over to place both hands on her mother's shoulders, "do you think I get mad when Regina wipes Henry's face?" she asked as softly as possible.

Snow narrowed her eyes, because she was getting the distinctive feeling that her daughter was actually being more mature than her in this moment and it wasn't helping.

"I wouldn't blame you if you did," she mumbled.

"Yes you would, you would tell me that I'm being insane and as long as Henry is able to see both me and Regina as his mother, then the small things don't matter."

The brunette sighed deeply, she had to admit that certainly sounded like something she would say.

"I suppose I owe them a thank you for making you so smart," she replied with a half sigh and half laugh.

"I think the hope speeches are genetic," Emma chuckled and then finally brought the other woman into a hug.

Pulling away, the blonde smiled at her father and said, "I know this is difficult, but it's just for a week. If you're really that uncomfortable, maybe try and avoid seeing them?"

Snow sighed and nodded, "we can go and have breakfast at home, maybe I should go to work after lunch?"

Charming brought his hand around her shoulder and assured "I can handle Neal."

With that, they each left the back room and Emma smiled at Natalie and Nathan as her birth parents went over to get Neal and pay their bill.

Sliding into the booth, she instantly came up with a lie and said, "they're fine, just sleep deprivation."

Natalie looked over at them, and for a moment she could have sworn that Mary Margaret scowled at her.

"Maybe they could use some tips?" Nathan suggested.

Emma's eyes widened as she thought about Snow's reaction to that and shook her head, "I think they just need sleep and they'll be as good as new, dad."

He looked at her for a moment trying to figure out why the prospect freaked her out so much, but he decided that there was a more pressing matter, "you know, I always thought that you were allergic to small towns."

Emma furrowed her brow and after taking a gulp of her hot cocoa, she asked, "what would make you think that?"

"Well, I just assumed that a town like this would bore you, I mean…there can't be much for the sheriff of a sleepy town like this to do," he chuckled.

The blonde bit her lip and managed to refrain from saying something along the lines of 'you have no idea,' and instead went for, "I like it here."

"Is that because of the town or because of a certain person?" Natalie laughed as she nudged her daughter, "when are we going to meet this Regina by the way?"

Emma felt a blush coming up her face and swallowed hard as she ignored her brother's smirk, she replied, "she has work right now, but you should be meeting us for dinner."

"She couldn't clear her schedule to meet her girlfriend's parents?" Blake teased, and Emma threw a balled up napkin at him, which he promptly caught.

"She is the mayor…" Emma tried to justify, even though she knew the real reason was because Regina was very unlikely to clear her schedule for the woman who was barely even her friend. For moment, she considered that she would probably do it for Robin, and then she tried to hide her cringe at the thought, she had been trying to quash thoughts like it for a while…not that she would ever admit that she knew what they meant.

As if to prove her wrong, the bell rang out and Emma heard the distinctive clicking of heels, she looked over her shoulder and saw Regina absentmindedly looking at her phone as she walked over to the counter.

"Excuse me…" Emma mumbled before she basically flew out of her seat, ignoring Blake's attempt to point out just how hot the brunette was.

"What the hell?" the saviour whispered as she was finally in ear shot of the formal Evil Queen.

Regina looked up from her phone, as if she was surprised by the existence of anyone outside of it, "Miss Swan?"

Emma quickly shushed her and said, "you promised not to call me that for a week…"

The brunette rolled her eyes and said, "Emma?"

"You said that you couldn't have breakfast with us because you have work."

Regina tilted her head and retorted, "you do realise that we're not actually together?"

Emma felt a pang in her stomach, but managed to move past it and said through gritted teeth, "I know that, but what are they going to think about you claiming to busy and then just sauntering into the diner?"

"I wasn't sauntering, I was trying to get coffee before the sheriff accosted me."

The blonde tilted her head and said, "how do you expect me to explain this to them, I mean you can't walk out without saying hello or they'll know that something is wrong?"

The mayor shot a glance over Emma's shoulder and said, "I get the feeling that they already know…"

Emma held back a sigh and shot her parents a reassuring look, before she turned back to Regina, "you have to meet them now."

"I actually do my job," the brunette whispered back with a hint of frustration in her voice.

The blonde decided that she had no other option, figuring that it was because it would look like a couple thing to do, she pouted, knowing that the expression was close enough to Henry's to convince the woman.

Regina gave her an unimpressed look and said, "fine, I will meet your parents while I wait for my coffee."

The blonde let out a relieved sigh and slipped her arm through Regina's as she pulled her over, the mayor was about to protest, but she secretly noticed just how comfortable the position was.

"Mom, dad…this is Regina Mills," Emma introduced, and then pointed to her siblings and said, "Blake and Riley."

When she said her brother's name, she stared at him intently until he stopped staring at the brunette, and the boy instantly slumped in his seat with blush consuming his face.

Unexpectedly, Regina found herself engulfed in a hug a mere second later from Natalie and received a smile from Nathan who had opted to stay in his seat.

The woman's eyes widened slightly and she looked pleadingly at the blonde who knew she wasn't the biggest fan of physical contact, not least from someone that she had just met.

Emma saw the cry for help and quickly cleared her throat, "mom…release…"

Natalie laughed and pulled away from the very tense woman she believed to be her daughter's girlfriend and said, "I'm sorry, just excited to see the woman who made Emma forget she had a family."

Regina tried not to laugh when she practically heard Emma cringe behind her, mostly because Natalie Swan didn't realise just how true her words literally were.

The mayor was saved from having to come up with some reply when Ruby walked over with a to go cup, "your coffee madam mayor."

The brunette refrained from sighing in relief and took the offered beverage, "thank you, Ruby."

The waitress gave the sheriff a quick smirk and went back over to the counter, the blonde rolled her eyes at the tall woman's back and turned back to Regina.

"You should really be getting back to work, right?"

Regina saw as the other woman's parents were about to protest to the prospect, and, managing to keep all of her usual sarcasm out of her voice, she said, "I'm afraid that I have a lot of work to do, but it was lovely meeting all of you."

Taking a step back, she was about to make an escape, before she realised that the four people in front of her were looking at her and Emma expectantly and she realised what usually happens when couples part.

Holding back a sigh, she decided that she could at least hold up this façade for a week and walked over to the woman who was supposedly her girlfriend.

"Dinner will be at six…dear," she said, before leaned forward and capturing the blonde's lips in a quick peck. She then turned on her heels and regally began making her way back to Town Hall.

Emma blinked a few times and then allowed her mother to lead her back over to the booth.

Blake reached across and waved his hand over her face.

"I think she's broken," Nathan laughed.

"Well, if I had a girlfriend that hot…" Blake began, and Emma finally blinked out of her shock, this time the napkin made contact with the teen's face.

 **A/N As always, need to thank QueenApples, my beta XD**

 **Let me know if you're interested in more :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

-5.45-

Emma paced up and down the dining table and adjusted one of the crooked forks, Henry walked in and laughed at the look on her face.

"Never had a meet the parents dinner, ma?" he chuckled.

The sheriff's eyes widened and she quickly held up her hand, "remember, Henry…"

The boy sighed dramatically and said, "right, sorry, _Emma."_

She relaxed slightly and looked down at the table again.

"The table is perfect, just calm down," the brunette laughed, "why are you so nervous? What would happen if they don't like mom?"

The blonde's shoulders slumped and she fell into a chair, "I guess you have a point, where is she anyway?"

"Talking to Robin on the phone, she forgot to tell him about your little plan, all she said was that there was a Merry Man in the diner…"

Emma bit her lip in amusement, she imagined that having one of your men report that your girlfriend was kissing another woman in public was not exactly a confidence boast.

"Do you think they'll break up?" Henry asked hopefully.

The blonde furrowed her brow and said, "why would they break up?"

The boy shrugged and looked down at the floor.

"What is it Henry?" Emma asked with a tilted head.

Henry sighed and finally admitted, "I want them to break up because he's annoying."

Emma let out a bark of laughter and stood from her chair to place her hand on the growing boy's shoulders, "you can't tell your mom who she can date."

"But…I don't think that she actually likes him…not in the same way as…"

The sheriff quickly held up her hand to silence him as the sound of clicking heels sounded in the hallway and Henry clamped his mouth shut and pretended to be looking for anything missing from the table.

Regina walked in and all but threw the bottle of wine into the middle of the table.

"Something wrong?" Emma asked cautiously after she exchanged a quick look with their son.

The brunette looked between them and just rolled her eyes, "it's nothing," she mumbled and turned on her heels to go to the kitchen.

Emma sat stunned for a second and looked over at Henry, "go," he laughed and she quickly ran after her 'girlfriend'.

"Did Robin piss you off?" the blonde asked without pretence as she entered the kitchen.

Regina looked up from the stove and scowled, "it's not important…"

"Clearly it is," Emma insisted and made her way to the counter, which she leaned over.

"It shouldn't be important, but he said that it would be unbecoming for me to pretend 'that type of person'," he replied, using air quotes for the last part.

Emma raised her eyebrow and said, "but David said that it wasn't an issue in the Enchanted Forest."

"That would only be true for the more enlightened kingdoms…" she sighed, "from which Robin does not originate."

"Well…it doesn't matter right? I mean this is only going on for a week and I'm sure he'll get over it…" Emma tried to reassure her, as much as she wanted for them to break up, she wanted to also be a responsible adult and that meant not breaking up 'soulmates'.

Regina huffed and looked down at the stove again, objectively it shouldn't matter because he was her soulmate so she, in theory, wouldn't end up with another, but that didn't get rid a certain part of herself. Just because she was with a man, it didn't mean she would label herself straight to stave off his homophobia.

"Because I'm bi-sexual," she admitted, looking back up at the blonde with more confidence then Emma thought it would be possible to have coming out to someone. Then again, she had to remind herself that she was talking to the former Evil Queen, she doubted that the badass woman spent much time suffering naysayers.

After these thoughts finally cleared her mind, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped open, "why didn't you tell me before?"

Regina furrowed her brow and said, "why would it have been important?"

Emma allowed herself to internally scream while managing return to a neutral expression, "friends tell each other stuff like that…"

"You told me that you're gay yesterday," the brunette pointed out.

"I still told you first," the blonde replied after a moment.

Regina tilted her head and said, "you're an idiot."

"So what are you going to do about Robin?" Emma asked as casually as possible.

Regina shrugged and sighed deeply, "he's supposed to be my soulmate," she said almost to herself.

"I'm surprised you believe that bullshit…"

"You think that pixie dust is 'bullshit'?" the brunette asked with narrowed eyes, mostly because the blonde seemed to be the only person who was capable of seeing what she was feeling before anyone else. Though she loved being friends with the saviour, she couldn't help but find it slightly irritating that she was easier to talk to then her boyfriend. Once again, she reminded herself that their real relationship would never work and stared at the other woman expectantly for an answer.

"You don't have to pretend to be happy just because Tinerbell thinks that you belong with someone, you can make your own destiny, Regina."

"Says the woman who was born to break a curse," she chuckled darkly.

"You can look at it that way, but everything I have done after was my own choice. As soon as the curse broke, I could have just left Storybrooke, but I chose to stay and deal with every crisis, you do have a choice," Emma retorted, the brunette was so caught up in her words that she didn't notice that she had started walking around the counter a few moments ago and was now standing agonisingly close to her.

Regina sighed and reminded herself again of all of the reasons, "I choose to be with Robin, I love him…"

The blonde tilted her head as her superpower instantly flared up.

Emma was about to question this when the doorbell rang out throughout the mansion, she felt her shoulders slump as she realised what time it was. All she wanted to do was continue this conversation, but they had an appearance to keep up for a week and then maybe she could look into it not being fake the next time her family showed up.

"You don't have to stay with him Regina and you know it, if you really love him, then you should go and talk to him once we're done with dinner, but you don't owe him anything," the doorbell rang again, and the blonde quickly leaned over to the brunette's ear and whispered, "if he can't accept you for who you are, there are plenty people who would kill to be with you, madam mayor."

Regina's breath hitched, but before she could think about berating her 'friend' for invading her personal space, the sheriff had already walked off in the direction of the front door and the sound of her greeting her adoptive family could be heard from the kitchen.

A moment later, she heard four sets of footsteps and after a calming breath, she began to make her way to greet her guests.

"Good evening," she greeted, grinning slightly when she noticed Emma's little sister clinging tightly to her. She had to admit that the saviour with a family she was comfortable being a part of was a nice sight to see, but she tried to convince herself that it was just because it would hurt Snow if she was witnessing this moment. Rolling her eyes at herself, she silently noted that she didn't hate the princess quite as much anymore, but it would have to be the explanation because it made more sense to the alternative.

Natalie smiled broadly at the brunette woman, but thankfully refrained from any physical contact.

"You two have a lovely home," Nathan commented as he looked around the expansive foyer, mentally he was trying to calculate whether it was at least half the size of their entire house. The moment they had drove up to the mansion, he'd began to wonder why it had taken so long for them to be invited.

"Lovely? It's freaking amazing," Blake corrected his father as he looked around.

Regina's eyebrows shot up and Emma mouthed 'sorry', she was beginning to wish that there was some way she could at least clue her brother in that her was in the presence of royalty, but she would just have to settle with a silent vow to whack him round the head later.

"Blake, be respectful," Nathan hissed into his ear and Regina actually broke into a grin much to everyone's surprise.

"It's quite alright, I take it as a compliment," she assured and she noticed each of the adult Swans relaxed marginally. "Shall we go to the dining room?"

Emma bit her lip and quickly waved to Regina to get her attention, "actually there's something I may not have mentioned."

The brunette stopped in her tracks and looked at the blonde expectantly.

The saviour took a steeling breath and then turned to her parents, "I may have…forgot to mention that Regina has a son."

Natalie and Nathan exchanged a shocked look for they each nodded, "that's wonderful…will he be joining us for dinner?"

The blonde nodded vigorously and said, "he's in the dining room, I figured that I could warn you before we went in."

The woman smiled at her daughter, she had started to wonder when she would settle down and the thought that she could possibly meet her future grandson filled her with more joy than she thought possible.

Entering the room, Nathan and Blake each gave another breath of amazement at the grandiose atmosphere of Mifflin Street.

The brunette boy who had been sat at the table for fifteen minutes looked up in surprise and smiled at the people who had no idea who exactly who he was.

Standing, he walked over to be in front of them and held out his hand, "Henry Mills," he smiled.

Nathan looked down at him, though the brunette wasn't too far off being his height, and he inspected the boy for a moment trying to decide who he reminded him of.

He quickly took his hand and shook, "Nathan Swan, pleasure to meet you."

Henry took his hand back and turned to look at his blonde mother who quickly introduced him to the others in the room that he didn't know and then she gestured for everyone to take their seat at the table.

* * *

-Half an hour later-

"Mom, please stop," Emma begged her mother with the sound of Henry laughing hard filling the room and Regina smirking heavily next to her.

"Come on, dear, I don't often have the opportunity to tell people these stories."

"That doesn't mean that you had to tell them that I cut my own hair…" she sighed, falling back against her chair petulantly.

"Not as bad as falling asleep in a tree," Henry laughed.

"It wasn't my fault that dad took so long to come and get me!"

"I had no idea that you had even climbed it until I came outside to check on you," Nathan retorted with a smirk as his daughter just crossed her arms and pouted.

Natalie chuckled and brought her arm around the blonde's shoulders, "it's okay sweetheart, you've always been able to sleep anywhere, same as Blake and Riley."

Blake gaped at his mother and shook his head, "I thought that this was embarrass Emma time."

The blonde rolled her eyes and shot the teen a dirty look which he only returned.

"It's natural for a mother to want to do the same for all her children," Natalie retorted and Blake just rolled his eyes and dug his fork into the delicious meal that Regina had prepared for them.

Emma took the opportunity to look over to Regina, she was sure that the woman would still be completely pissed off because of her so called 'soulmate', but to the saviour's great surprise, the woman was smiling and watching the conversation with interest.

That was until Blake realised the reason that they were here and said, "shouldn't we be asking questions about Regina?"

"Could you get any ruder?" Emma shot back with a sigh.

"This is a meeting the parents thing and all we've done is talk about you, not really fair," he smirked and then turned his attention to Regina.

Natalie rolled her eyes, silently wondering what happened to his manners since he started High School and said, "please ignore him."

Regina was about to accept the offer until she noticed the twinge of interest in the woman's voice, she got the feeling that if she didn't offer her something, it would just make their relationship even more unbelievable.

Quickly running through her childhood in her mind, she instantly knew that none of it was usable in this conversation, and she managed to covertly look to Emma for help.

The blonde bit the inside of her cheek, she knew that if she was to tell the story, they would all question it, but Regina was clearly unprepared to talk about a normal childhood. Emma felt a pang in her stomach at some of the things that Regina had told her about her upbringing, or more specifically, about Cora. It occurred to her that no one quite understood just how close the two 'friends' truly were. They often had family dinners and movie nights with Henry and once he had gone off to do his homework or gone to bed, the blonde would often stay and they would just talk, sometimes she wondered whether Regina had told Robin any of this, but then she would berate herself for wishful thinking and go back to trying to repress her attraction.

An idea suddenly sparked and she allowed her hand to fall down beneath the table.

Regina managed to hold back a gasp as the saviour brushed her hand against her own and she felt a flow of potential lies that she could tell.

Being successful in not sighing in relief, she smiled at Natalie and said, "it's quite alright, ask me anything."

Natalie exchanged a look with Nathan and she said, "er…what are your parents' names?"

Emma ran her hand across her face and looked straight over at her mother, hoping that she would get the message to abandon the question, but to her surprise, Regina answered it.

"Their names were Cora and Henry…Mills."

"Oh I'm sorry…" Natalie began, but the brunette just held up her hand.

"It's alright."

"Errr…" the older woman looked at her husband and he opened his mouth to supply a question.

"Where did you grow up?" he asked.

Mentally, Regina allowed the brief fake memories that Emma had provided to take root, they were all far too happy to even be related to her actual childhood, but they still made her smile.

"I grew up here in Storybrooke," she replied with a smile.

They each nodded and the oldest pair in the room each seemed to have drawn a blank as to what to ask next.

"Why don't you ask how they met?" Henry suggested after the silence had stretched for half a minute, causing Emma and Regina to shoot him a shocked look at the same time.

Natalie looked at her daughter expectantly and Emma moistened her lips.

Henry gave her an exasperated look and said, "I'll start…so I was an idiot and when I found out that I was adopted, I went looking for my birth mother. I used this really dodgy website that gave me Emma's name and address. I figured out that she wasn't my mom, but she still wouldn't let me go back home on the bus, so she brought me home. Mom offered her a drink to say thank you and Emma hasn't left town since."

Natalie and Nathan took a moment to absorb this information, the female of the two was hyper focused on Henry mentioning that he went after his birth mother and found Emma.

Though she had never met Neal Cassidy, Emma had mentioned that he was a brunette.

Other than the hair, she was pretty sure that the resemblance between her daughter and this boy couldn't be a coincidence. However, when she inspected his green eyes, an image flashed through her mind and she remembered the eyes of the blond man outside the diner.

It was for that reason that she didn't want to press the matter.

She was having this strange feeling in the pit of her stomach that there was something strange going on in this town, but Emma seemed happy so she decided to just push her feeling aside.

"So it was like love at first sight?" Riley practically squealed.

Emma's eyes widened and she expected Regina to make some kind of protest, but to her immense surprise, the brunette just continued to eat her dinner with a small smirk on her face.

The blonde bit the inside of her cheek and replied, "I don't know about love…right away, but I definitely had a reason to stay…"

Blake fake gagged and his little sister scowled and nudged him in the side, "you are such a moron," she whined.

The teen stuck his tongue out at the girl and she let out a frustrated huff and looked to her mother.

Henry watched the interaction in fascination.

He had often thought about how awesome it would be to have a sibling and for like five minutes, he thought that Roland could have been it.

However, the more time he spent with Robin and Roland, the more he began to appreciate the time that he got to spend with Regina and Emma at the same time. He had begun to resent the two people who were getting the way of them being a real family. Plus, according to all of the research he had done, if the saviour and former Evil Queen were meant to be together in the way that he believed they were, then they would be fully capable of giving him a sibling that he wouldn't find irritating.

He vaguely recognised Natalie scolding her two children as he shot a covert look at his own mothers and noticed that they were actually sharing a genuine smile.

Smirking to himself, he placed some food in his mouth and smirked as he chewed.

It would appear that this new development would mean that he could fast track Operation SwanQueen.

* * *

"Well," Henry yawned, "I'm going to bed," he announced as he rose from the couch.

The brunette boy smirked slightly as he inspected his two mothers, both clearly tired after the movie he had insisted that they should watch. He wasn't at all surprised when Regina had agreed, because they had many nights like this one. The only difference this time was that Emma wouldn't be going home, now he just had to work on getting her to be not sleeping in the guest room.

"Night, mom," he said as he leaned down to kiss Regina on the cheek and then he smirked at the blonde and said, "night, Em-ma."

The sheriff just rolled her eyes and watched as her son walked over to the stairs.

Once he was out of earshot, she grabbed the remote control and turned to TV off, before turning her attention to Regina with a shy grin.

"So tonight went surprisingly well…"

Regina nodded in agreement and then replied, "your family are surprisingly…pleasant…"

"I guess you wouldn't be saying that if you were talking about my biological family," Emma chuckled, she felt the urge to shift across the couch, but she reminded herself that she wasn't actually her girlfriend.

"I would never dream of it," the mayor chuckled.

The blonde laughed and then after a moment of silence, she said, "I am really sorry about Blake…he used to be polite…"

"He is a teenager, Emma," Regina shot back.

Emma sighed deeply and said, "I guess I'm just worried about Henry being one soon…"

Regina was silent for a moment, clearly now thinking about the possibility of Henry acting like Blake, but she just shrugged her shoulders.

"If it did happen, I'm sure that it would just be a phase," she chuckled.

"You sound almost hopeful, your majesty, anyone would think that you were a Charming," the blonde smirked.

Regina narrowed her eyes in mock outrage and Emma just smirked even harder.

They continued this for a moment before a thought occurred to the saviour. Resisting the urge to sigh deeply, she asked a question that she knew needed to be asked, even if it would ruin the moment:

"Have you talked to Robin yet?"

Regina's shoulders noticeably slumped at the mention of her so called soulmate, she honestly did not enjoy talking about him with Emma. She was having a difficult time admitting that the reason for this was that she would rather not be reminded that she had a boyfriend when she was in the presence of the saviour.

"We agreed over text to have a real conversation about what he believes the issue to be."

"You do know that you're not obligated to stay with him?" the blonde said, just about managing to stop herself from reaching over to touch the other woman's shoulder.

Regina looked down at her lap and Emma noticed the cracks in her façade, it was something that she was noticing a lot more often since they had begun spending more time together.

Despite her ability to be vulnerable in front of the sheriff, she was far from comfortable discussing her relationship with the woman who she had spent some time pining over.

Nodding to show her that she agreed with her point, she stood from the couch and rolled her shoulders.

"It has been a long day…"

Emma bit the inside of her cheek and stopped herself from pushing her point. Silently, she stood and began following the shorter woman up the stairs until they were both standing outside the brunette's door.

The blonde stood awkwardly as she considered what she should say, Regina raised her eyebrows expectantly at the sheriff and stopped herself from laughing at just how nervous she looked. At the back of her mind, she considered that the expression almost confirmed that the blond felt something for her. However, she managed to convince herself that she was simply nervous because this was practically the first time that she had been on the second floor of the mansion.

"Feel free to choose any of the guest rooms," Regina said by way of cutting the silence.

Emma smiled weakly and stopped herself from rocking on her heels.

"Thanks…" she mumbled and continued to stare at her for a moment.

Regina tilted her head and said, "good night."

The blonde cleared her throat and turned on her heels so that the other woman wouldn't see the blush rushing up to her cheeks.

She quickly said, "night," before she walked towards the first door that she knew wasn't Henry's.

Regina watched her go for a second, before she just shrugged it off and entered her own bedroom and began formulating what she was going to say to Robin Hood the next time she saw him.

 **A/N Thanks for all the interest XD**

 **Reviews are a great motivator ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

"I know that I should have informed you of what was going on, Robin," Regina sighed as she leaned against the park bench. She had decided that she could to try and offer an explanation for his reaction, she somewhat hoped that his objection came from the fact that he didn't want her kissing another, but the way he had phrased it sounded very much homophobic, something she would certainly not be dealing with.

The thief wrang his hands together and looked at the grass under his feet, he wanted to forgive his girlfriend, but all he could think of was how funny the Merry Men had found the news. There was just something about the prospect of being left for a woman that didn't sit right with him.

"Of course you should have informed me, Regina, you can't possibly think that it's alright to go around town pretending to be the sheriff's lover," he said somewhat petulantly.

"The operant word in that being 'pretending', I'm simply assisting my friend, I'm sorry that I didn't think to tell you, but the whole thing honestly seemed like a joke to me," she replied with narrowed eyes, waiting for him to tell her the exact reason as for why he was angry.

"You should have told me, so that I could tell you that you couldn't do it," he said, finally making eye contact with her.

Regina clenched her fists and shifted slightly away from him, "what?" she asked lowly.

He sighed deeply and began his explanation, "you're supposed to be royalty, Regina, it wouldn't be right for people to believe that you are so inclined to…"

The brunette held up her hand and said, "it would appear that everyone in this town already knew that I am 'so inclined', everyone that is, but you."

Robin blinked a couple times and asked, "are you saying that you're gay?"

"No, of course not," the thief sighed in relief, until Regina elaborated, "I'm saying that I'm bi-sexual."

His mouth fell open and after a moment, he shot to his feet, "why didn't you tell me?!"

Regina rolled her eyes and looked around the park to shoot death glares at the people who dared to stare at their conversation, and then replied as calmly as possible, "I have never tried to hide it."

"Well you shouldn't need to be it anymore, now that you know that your soulmate is male…"

The brunette let out a huff and rose regally from the bench to stare him down, "that is not how it works, Robin. Just because I am with you, it doesn't mean that a Iam no longer attracted to women."

"But…I'm your soulmate," he replied childishly, seemingly one step away from stamping his foot.

"That doesn't mean that we will be together forever! Technically, you were my soulmate when I was a teenager, who's to say that you still are?"

"Why the hell would you say that?!"

"Because you're being an unbelievable moron!" she almost screamed.

Robin was about to make a reply, but he was cut short by someone behind him asking, "is everything alright?"

The thief turned around and looked critically at the teen with floppy hair and the younger girl standing next to him, each of them holding a cone of ice-cream.

"Who the hell are you?" the blond growled.

"Robin!" Regina shrieked, she honestly couldn't believe how little it took for her to begin to resent him, but what was even stranger was the fact that she couldn't seem to bring herself to care that she no longer wanted to be with him. "This is Blake and Riley Swan."

The blond instantly narrowed his eyes at them and Blake tilted his head with narrowed eyes, which flicked between the pair.

"And you are?" the teen asked after a moment of silence.

Regina let out a huff and deliberately made a point of changing sides to stand next to the Swan children, "Robin is my ex-boyfriend."

The thief looked thoroughly confused, mostly because he couldn't tell whether she was lying for their benefit or if she was telling him that they were breaking up.

Blake continued to inspect the blond, the teen seemed to have already decided that Robin must have been trying to cause some kind of argument. Eventually, the man just rolled his eyes, he could see that there was no way that he would be having a real conversation with his girlfriend in this moment, so he just turned on his heels and made his way out of the park.

Once he was out of ear shot, Blake and Riley turned to look at Regina at the same time and the older of the two asked, "are you okay?"

Regina thought for a moment that maybe Emma didn't get her incessant protectiveness from her biological parents and nodded slowly, she wasn't quite sure why she was so okay.

"I'm fine, dear," she replied with a smile, "where are your parents?"

"They're going to meet Emma at the station, but Riley really wanted ice-cream. We kind of got lost…"

The mayor gave him a sceptical look and replied, "the station is across the street from the ice-cream store."

Blake's shoulders slumped and said, "my mom is being kind of obsessive about the itinerary, so we made a detour and got lost…"

Regina smirked and said, "I was just on my way to speak with your sister, I could show you the way."

The boy sighed in relief, he certainly didn't want to have to call his mother and admit that he had gotten lost, "thank you."

The former queen gestured in the direction of the station and the two children began dutifully following her to the sheriff's station.

* * *

Emma walked over to David's desk and grabbed the file that she was looking for.

Flipping to the page that she needed, she began to intently read, trying to find the piece of essential information that she needed.

She was sure that if Regina were to walk in right now, she would probably get some scathing remark about how shocked she was to actually see her working. The truth was that the paperwork was the only thing that was stopping her from thinking about the infuriating woman.

After she had entered the guest room, she had barely been able to go to sleep because she was thinking about what it would have been like if she were allowed to go into Regina's room.

Though she had often thought about the less than innocent things that she could be doing with the mayor, this time, she had only thought about simply cuddling with the woman.

Closing her eyes in frustration, she fell into David's chair when she realised that she was thinking about the brunette again. Trying to refocus, she stared intently at the page.

However, her efforts were in vain when she heard the distinctive sound of a pair of footsteps. She looked up to see David and Mary Margaret entering, holding a takeout bag.

The saviour offered them a smile before her eyes widened when she realised what time it was.

David had obviously decided to come to work earlier to relieve her, but what he didn't know was that her adoptive family would be there any moment to pick her up for lunch as well as to see the station.

Walking over to his desk, David placed the bag on the table and offered Emma a confused look, "what's wrong?" he laughed.

"My…er…they're going to be here in like ten minutes," she said cautiously.

Mary Margaret's shoulders slumped and the blonde stood from her seat to walk over to her, she placed her hand on her shoulder and said, "I can meet them outside."

The brunette nodded and offered her daughter a small smile, "thanks…"

Emma sighed and wondered whether she would ever be able to have her whole family in one room, of course, the Swans would never know who the Nolans are, and she wasn't sure if Snow could ever be in the same room as Natalie without planning a murder. She figured that David could probably handle it, he genuinely seemed grateful for the Swans, but she wasn't certain whether he had come around to the idea of her having another father.

The saviour was about to walk over to the exit, but she could feel a pair of eyes so she turned to smile at each of them, she could practically see in their expressions that they wanted to admit that they missed her living with them, even if it had only been a day.

She offered them a supportive smile and said, "everything will go back to normal before you know it."

Snow seemed to relax at her daughter's words and nodded appreciatively.

Stopping herself from letting out a little huff as she wished her mother would offer to try and tolerate her family, Emma turned and made her way out of the station.

She got out to the Main Street as quickly as possible and just about managed to get out of the door as her parents were walking up to it.

Natalie's eyebrows shot up, she had been expecting to be allowed to see where Emma worked, but she quickly slipped out of the building ad seemed to be adamantly blocking the entrance.

"Hey," she said, slightly out of breath, "I kind of skipped breakfast, so could we go to lunch early?"

Her parents exchanged a look, before Nathan replied, "Blake took Riley to get ice-cream…"

The blonde bit her lip and tried to think of a case as to why they should still go for lunch an hour before her mother had planned, but before she could say anything, she heard the distinctive sound of heels hitting the side walk. Instantly, she looked over to see Regina walking over, with her siblings in tow.

Nathan and Natalie turned at the same time and the female of the two allowed a grin to spread across her face at the unexpected sight of the brunette.

Regina's eyes flicked to the woman and she briefly wondered whether Emma's biological mother would ever be that happy to see her, though she quickly dismissed the thought.

Blake walked over, throwing the last piece of his ice-cream cone into his mouth and chewing it rather loudly, he said, "we kind of got lost."

Emma looked over to the ice-cream store quite clearly in view and then back to her brother's pleading eyes and she smirked at him as she realised that he didn't want to have to tour a sheriff's station. Usually she would rat him out for the sheer joy of it, but right now, it fit perfectly with what she wanted.

It was for this reason, that when she noticed her mother about to follow her line of vision, she split her attention by walking over to Regina and placing her arm around the short woman's shoulder.

The blonde just about managed to not furrow her brow when Regina didn't tense in the way she had fully expected and then turned to look at the brunette, "I thought you had to work."

Regina looked between the family members and decided not to question why she wasn't secretly hating this moment. She wasn't really sure she wanted to go and talk to Emma after the ordeal with Robin, but she did know that the blonde would know what to say. The mayor had been slowly beginning to accept that the saviour would probably be the best friend she would ever have, though this acceptance was mixed in with thoughts of being friend-zoned by the very same woman.

"I decided to take a break and…"

"This Robin jerk yelled at her," Blake supplied.

Emma scowled at her brother for interrupting the former Evil Queen, but then his words registered and she turned back to look at the brunette. She already knew that she didn't like Robin Hood, but the idea that he would dare to raise his voice to Regina just made hate flood through her veins.

Subconsciously, she pulled Regina closer to her body, and tried not to grin at the thought that she was the first person the mayor would come to about her relationship issues.

"Are you okay?" she whispered.

Regina opened her mouth to reply, but instead she just cleared her throat and whispered back, "we can talk about it later."

Emma nodded and turned back to her family who were intently watching the interaction and she realised why Regina didn't want to talk about her boyfriend right now.

She was about to release her shoulders and suggest that Regina could join them for lunch, something that would surely convince Natalie to abandon her plans.

However, before she could move a single muscle, a frenzied dwarf came running up to her.

She instantly recognised what the look on Grumpy's face meant, though he did seem to be distracted for a split second by the position the mayor and sheriff were standing in.

Though, when he was finally within ear shot, he shouted. "we're under attack!"

Natalie, Nathan, Blake and Riley each turned to look at the man in disbelief and then turned back to look at Emma in confusion. This confusion only deepened when none of them could see a similar expression on her face, only exasperation.

The saviour was about to ask 'what?', but she soon got her answer as a roar rang its way down Main Street.

Emma's arm fell away from Regina and she simply stared at the snowy abomination causing little earthquakes with each step it made.

"W…what…" Natalie stuttered as she desperately tried to figure out how many people had to be in that costume.

The blonde winced at her mother's shock and decided that she should probably deal with the more obvious issue first, and she turned back to look at Grumpy, "where did it come from?"

The dwarf shrugged and replied, "how the hell should I know? Now are you going to stand here asking stupid questions or do something?"

Emma narrowed her eyes at him and was about to ask Regina what she thought they should do, when she was stopped by the sound of the door swinging open behind her.

She turned to see her birth parents rush out to see what was going on and they each blinked a couple times when they saw what the newest crisis is.

"Is that…a snowman?" David asked as he slowly lowered the gun he figured would be completely useless.

Emma just nodded and her biological parents continued to stare.

Regina rolled her eyes deeply when she inspected the completely dumbfounded expressions on each of their faces, and the moment that the creature knocked over a lamp post that miss a building by an inch, she nudged the saviour.

Emma blinked out of her shock and registered that Regina wanted her to do something.

She instantly nodded, and turned to her adoptive parents, "don't freak out."

"What?" Natalie asked through her already somewhat constricted throat.

The sheriff opened her mouth to reply, but Regina already disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke, quickly appearing behind the beast.

Emma held back a sigh and allowed her eyes to briefly run over the utter shock and confusion on each of the Swan's faces. She heard a crashing sound and looked back over to see that Regina had seemingly easily dispatched the monster with a single fireball and she allowed a sigh of relief.

Regina re-appeared beside the saviour and shot her a sympathetic look, she honestly didn't think that was really worth the blonde having to tell her parents the secret she had been working hard to keep.

"What the hell was that?!" Blake shouted, his eyes seemingly unable to close as he stared at the puddle of water.

Snow and Charming seemed to decide at the same time that they could try and be a little helpful by going to look for any kind of clues as to who could have set it. Plus, Charming could still feel Snow's discomfort a being around the Swans despite the situation, so they each went to go and inspect the puddle for clues.

Emma bit her lip, silently wishing that they would stay and offer the explanation themselves, but she turned back to her adoptive family and almost mumbled, "I may not have told you everything about Storybrooke…."

Natalie and Nathan just looked at her expectantly, clearly neither of them had any idea what she could possibly say next.

Emma tried to formulate her words and stopped herself from looking to Regina for help, but before she could say anything, she felt a strange feeling in her gut.

Her eyes shot over to the Charmings, neither of who seemed to notice the puddle of water shifting beneath them.

As the creature began to reform, she seemed to lose all sense of reason as she shouted, "look out, mom!"

Snow just about managed to dodge to the side as a snowy arm swept for her and she stumbled backwards as the beast began advancing on her.

Emma winced as she looked over to Natalie, who was just staring at her with her mouth slightly open, she looked as if her brain was short circuiting.

However, it was very apparent which of her mothers needed her immediate attention and she allowed her magic to flood her veins, and white smoke engulfed her body, and a moment later, she was standing next to her father behind the creature.

It soon became apparent that Regina had the same thought process, as Emma noticed the purple smoke bellowing beside her, quickly revealing her 'girlfriend'.

Resolutely, she refused to look down the street at her adoptive family and she looked to Regina for some kind of direction.

The brunette nodded towards the creature who was about to crush her mother and the blonde instantly knew what the first step should be.

Raising both hands, two balls of light appeared, which she promptly shot into the snowman's back.

It turned around almost impossibly fast, and roared out in anger, with both arms out looking for something to crush.

"How do we kill it?" Emma asked, as the three of them stumbled backwards, trying to get out of the beast's range,

"We need something hot enough to make sure it evaporates…"

The blonde swallowed hard, thinking desperately, she remembered something that seemed to make a spell stronger, at least it did for Cora and Regina.

Holding out her hand, the brunette seemed to instantly understand as she copied the motion and they each focused on creating the strongest fireball they could.

A moment later, an inferno erupted between their hands and Emma heard her father yelp beside her.

As the fireball connected with the monster, no water fell to this ground this time, as steam was the only proof it had ever even been there.

Emma let out a huff of relief, before she noticed four people marching towards her.

She expected a question about magic, or some kind of exclamation of disbelief, but as soon as Natalie was in earshot, she got something very different.

"Did you just call her mom?!" the woman shouted.

 **A/N Reviews are very much appreciated XD**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

"Snow White and Prince Charming are your parents," Natalie said slowly.

Emma looked between the four people sitting on the couch before which she stood and then allowed her eyes to flick up to Snow and David behind the couch, and they both nodded their encouragement. She silently wished that Regina was there, but she had offered to assist the Fairies with finding out where the snowman had come from.

The blonde bit her lip and slightly inclined her head. She hadn't really expected her mother to have any other first question, even despite the fact of all the other things she had told her about what had happened in recent years. Granted, she had given a very redacted version, missing out the intricate details of the curse, namely, who cast it. They had no idea just who Regina was in the Enchanted Forest and she had a feeling that she hadn't given them a good enough reason for them to not hate Snow and Charming for 'abandoning' her.

Her adoptive parents and Blake all turned to look at the pair behind them, seemingly each inspecting them critically. Her biological parents shifted under their glares and Emma had to resist the urge to huff when she felt the tension between the two sets of her family.

Silence reigned for over twenty, tension filled, seconds, but it was broken when the youngest in the room seemed to have worked through the implications of what it all meant.

Riley was practically vibrating as she asked, "so you're a princess?"

All eyes fell on the eleven-year-old and then Snow and Charming looked back over to their daughter, it was never something that they had discussed with her, since it didn't matter in this world, but Snow always had the urge to treat the blonde as the princess she should have been born to be.

Emma blinked a couple of times at her sister and quickly shot a look at her biological mother's almost excited expression, before she nodded, "er…I guess I am…"

Riley took a second to take this in before another thought occurred to her, "so you're like Princess Charming?"

The blonde looked over at David and noted the ghost of a grin tugging at his lips, but she just turned back to her sister and said, "his name isn't actually Prince Charming, you know?"

The eleven-year-old continued to practically vibrate as she leapt off the sofa to wrap her arms around the older woman, "you are so awesome!" she exclaimed, disregarding Emma's answer.

Emma blinked a few times before she brought one around her sister's shoulders and smiled at her, now she just had to deal with the older Swans who were more capable of understanding what this all meant.

She looked across the couch to her next sibling.

Blake looked to be contemplating everything he had been told, strictly, he understood all of the magic stuff, even if it hadn't quite registered that it was all real. There was one thing that Emma had said that stood out to him though, "Regina isn't your girlfriend?" he finally asked.

Emma tilted her head, this entire situation was really beginning to make her question her family's priorities, though she could understand taking time to believe in magic. She had almost no doubt that none of them had quite registered the fact that what they saw was the paranormal, with the obvious exception of her sister who was still hanging onto her. She could almost feel Snow's eyes burning into the hand that was rested on the pre-teens shoulder, but she found that Riley's acceptance was the only thing stopping from screaming at this moment.

Taking a deep breath, she admitted the one thing that she wished hadn't been a lie, "she's more like my best friend…"

Blake inspected her strained facial expression and he suddenly felt bad for the woman, he heard the slight tremble in her voice at the word 'friend' and it seemed obvious to everyone who didn't share DNA with the blonde, that she wanted more with Regina.

"So why did you pretend otherwise?" Natalie asked softly, her voice was slightly sharper than usual, but it did seem as though she was incapable of taking a harsh tone with anyone, no matter everything that had changed in a matter of a single hour.

Emma took a steadying breath, as she tried to formulate the truth in her mind, she knew there was no way to say it out loud without sounding utterly insane.

So just decided that she should say exactly what happened, "Peter Pan wanted to curse Storybrooke, so Regina had to take everyone back to the Enchanted Forest…except me and Henry. She altered my memories and since she didn't know about you guys, I forgot I was ever adopted…"

Natalie and Nathan each blinked a couple of times as they worked through that information.

Neither of them truly knew how to take any of this.

First, they had to deal with the existence of magic, every fairy-tale character they had ever read about being real and last, but certainly not least, that they had spent so much of their lives raising 'the saviour'.

"Peter Pan wanted to cast a curse?" Blake asked doubtfully.

Emma looked over to her brother and shrugged her shoulders, "he's pretty evil in real life…"

The teen let out a bark of laughter and asked, "do you have any idea how insane you sound right now?"

The blonde waited for Natalie to berate her son, as she usually did basically whenever he opened his mouth these days, but when she looked over at her mother, she could see that she agreed with him.

"I know it's crazy…but it's true…"

Natalie let out a breath when she heard some underlining hurt in her child's voice and she stood from the couch to walk over to her.

Placing a hand on her shoulder, she said, "it's hard to deny that it's true, but it's a lot to take in for one day…"

Emma nodded and significantly relaxed at her mother's touch.

Ignoring the little huff that came from Snow, she said, "maybe you guys want some time to think about it? You can call me if you have any questions…"

Natalie smiled gratefully and said, "we just need some time to let it all sink in, I promise it won't take too long…"

"It would help if you showed us more magic," Riley said almost hopefully.

Emma smirked and shook her head, "maybe later."

Riley's shoulders slumped, but she quickly leaned into her sister for a hug, before she went over to stand next to her father and brother who had each risen from the couch.

"We'll call you later," Nathan assured as he and his wife took turns to hug the blonde.

Once the door shut, Emma sat heavily on the coffee table and put her head in her hands.

Snow and Charming exchanged a look, before they came around the couch and sat in front of their daughter, "are you okay, sweetheart?" Snow asked.

She leaned forward and placed a hand on the sheriff's forearm, instantly she frowned when it didn't look as though it relaxed her as much as Natalie's touch had.

Emma sighed and made eye contact with her parents, and noticed Snow's expression. She took a deep breath as she felt guilt flood her system for making the woman feel that way, but she just decided to move past it and try and make her happy when the Swans left, "I really didn't want them to find out…"

There was silence for a moment, before David said, "they seemed more relaxed about it than most people would be. They really are trying to understand, Emma."

The blonde just looked down at the floor and shook her head, "that's not why I didn't want them to know…"

"Then why?" Snow asked cautiously.

"It's not important," Emma mumbled and before her mother could further probe for answers, her phone rang out.

Rolling her eyes, she looked and the text, which only made her roll her eyes again, "there's something wrong at town line."

"What could have possibly happened now?" David asked exasperatedly.

"There's an ice wall blocking it.

* * *

"How could she not have told us about any of this?!" Natalie almost shouted.

Nathan looked up at his pacing wife and then over to his two children sitting to attention on their bed at Granny's B&B.

Raising from his seat at the desk, he crossed the room and put his hands on her shoulders.

Natalie frowned at him as she was forced to stay put, but she just looked at him expectantly for what he could possibly say.

"Would you have believed any of it if she had told us over the phone?" he asked calmly, he had no idea why he was so chill about the situation. It could have been because one of them had to remain calm or maybe because he was pretty sure that he would never truly accept the existence of anything as irrational as magic, even if he had seen his daughter transport herself and then throw a fireball at a magical snowman.

Natalie shook her head and went to go and sit next to Blake with a huff, "that doesn't excuse the fact that she didn't seem like she planned to ever tell us. She constructed a fake relationship so that she could hide the truth from us."

"Are we sure she wasn't just taking the opportunity to show Regina she likes her?" Blake asked, "I mean, it's obvious to anyone who can see that they're meant to be together….except them I guess"

His mother just shook her head and Nathan fell into the seat next to her, squeezing her hand in support, "this may be the most unexpected thing that could have happened, but we still have to support her…"

"I know," Natalie said instantly, "I just don't know how to support some magical princess…"

Nathan registered a little squeal of excitement from his youngest daughter and let out a small laugh, before he replied, "she's still Emma, has she seemed any different since we got here?"

The woman took a deep breath and said, "she seems more mature…"

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Blake shot back with a furrowed brow.

Natalie shrugged and looked down at the floor, "does she really need us anymore?"

Her husband squeezed her hand again and said, "you're being irrational, she is still the same girl who spent two hours hugging you after her first day at school. She will always need us, Natalie."

"She has her real parents," she whispered as she looked over at her biological parents.

Even though it had been years since it had happened, the day that Emma had found out she was adopted still weighed on her mind. The blonde had been nothing but angry and had stormed out claiming that she was going to find her 'real parents'. Even when she had returned home from prison, Natalie just knew that nothing would ever be the same as it was before she had found out. The blonde was constantly wondering why her parents would have given her up, even if she was no longer looking for them, it was obvious that she wanted to know who they were. Now she had found them and they were literally a fairy-tale, even if they were somehow the same age as their daughter, they had something that the Swans could never have, shared DNA.

They fell into silence again, but Nathan brought his other hand to cover his wife's, silently they agreed that there was no way they would be giving up on their daughter.

The silence was soon broken by the ringing of Natalie's phone and she tilted her head as Emma's name came up on the display, almost as if to prove her fears wrong.

"Emma?" she asked cautiously.

"Something happened to Emma," came a voice that was very much not Emma's.

Natalie sprung up from the bed and clutched the phone tighter as she asked, "what happened to my daughter?"

David's breath hitched slightly at her choice of words, but the prince pushed past it pretty quickly as he replied, "there was an issue at town line…look, it's a really long story, but she's asking that you come to our apartment."

"We're on our way," the woman said quickly as she clicked off her phone.

* * *

Snow got the pram up to her apartment door as quickly as possible, and scooped Neal up out of it.

With her daughter and husband dealing with another crisis, she had decided to take her time when picking up her son from day care, she had gone for a coffee afterwards to try and think about everything that had happened.

Her peace was soon cut short though when David had called her and informed her that there was an issue and she had all but ran back to the apartment.

Pulling Neal closer to her body, she took a steadying breath, before she pushed her door open.

At the sight she was met with, she instantly clenched her teeth.

On the couch, Emma was covered in a pile of blankets, clearly fast asleep, on the shoulder of Natalie Swan.

Natalie looked over and slightly narrowed her eyes at the woman, which caused Snow to feel anger boiling in her stomach.

Her attention was next brought to Nathan sat in the recliner staring intently at the very cold blonde and then to Blake sat on the arm next to his father.

Finally, she looked over at a blonde woman she was sure she had never seen before in her life. She was dressed in a rather elaborate blue dress and Riley was staring at her as if she was ready to begin worshipping the woman.

Entering, she made a beeline for Neal's crib and quickly placed the sleeping baby into it, before she went over to her husband standing behind the kitchen counter, while everyone else seemed to go back to what they were doing before the newcomer interrupted.

"What happened?" she hissed.

David quickly laced his fingers in hers, almost as if he was willing her to calm down and said, "Emma got trapped in the ice wall and found Elsa. When we got back here, she asked for Natalie…"

"So you called her before me?" she whispered in outrage, "I am her mother!"

"So is she," he hissed back.

Her mouth slightly fell open at his response, she couldn't quite believe that he could be so okay with this, but then again, he had led a far less privileged life than she had been allowed to.

David looked over to see Blake staring at them critically and he quickly grabbed her arm, pulling her over to her bed, where he drew the curtain for some privacy.

"You can't keep doing this, Snow."

"Doing what?" the princess asked rather childishly as she crossed her arms.

"You can't expect her to choose, I would have given anything to have been the man who raised her, but the fact is I wasn't. We didn't teach her to talk, walk, read or write, she didn't get to learn how to ride horses or swordplay, and we both knew that would happen when we sent her through the wardrobe. We made the decision to send her away so she could have her best chance and I can't be the only one of us who was hurt when we thought that she didn't have that as a child."

Snow blinked away a few tears and shook her head, "that doesn't make me feel better, David. I thought she was finally starting to see us as her parents and it turns out that she's had a family all of her life. It just hurts to know that a complete stranger was the mother I couldn't be."

"Which is why you should thank her!" he whispered loudly, sincerely hoping that there was no way that it had carried past the curtain.

Snow just adamantly shook her head and David rolled his eyes deeply, he loved the woman, but she could be insufferably stubborn, especially when it came to Emma and Neal.

David was about to come up with some other argument, before the brunette held up her hand and asked, "who is Elsa?"

"She created the snow wall because she couldn't control her magic. Emma wants to help her find her sister."

Snow nodded slowly, and said, "have you told Regina what happened?"

The blond tilted his head and considered whether Snow was warming up to the idea of Emma and Regina, before he answered, "she helped to get Emma out, but she had to go and get Henry from school."

The brunette slightly inclined her head, and then made to go back to the kitchen, before David grabbed her arm, "what are you doing?" he sighed.

"I'm going to make some cocoa," she whispered back, and freed herself from her grip. She was half way past him, before she turned back and added, "with cinnamon."

 **A/N I need to thank QueenApples for being an awesome beta and PerditusFic for always answering my random questions :)**

 **Reviews are a great motivator :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

"They found out because a snowman attacked Main Street?" Henry asked sceptically.

Regina just shrugged her shoulders and replied, "it's impossible to say that Storybrooke isn't interesting."

The younger brunette laughed lightly as his mother's car pulled up to the mansion.

After a second of silence, he asked, "is ma okay? Other than being frozen, I mean..."

Regina nodded slowly as she pulled the keys out of the ignition and said, "I think it's a difficult situation for everyone. Emma just doesn't want to have to deal with explaining something that she barely understands herself..."

"She seems pretty comfortable with everything," he frowned.

Regina bit her lip as she considered her theories and replied, "she may have acquiesced better to post-curse Storybrooke than anyone thought possible, but that doesn't mean that she is internally comfortable with everything. She spent the first twenty-eight years of her life believing in the mundane..."

Henry nodded his understanding and opened the car door at the same time as his mother as they each exited the vehicle and began making their way to the front door.

"So you're saying it's hard for her to deny everything after all this time, but that doesn't mean that she is comfortable with living in a world with magic?"

The older brunette looked behind her with raised eyebrows, she knew that he had always been insightful, but it still threw her off sometimes when her Little Prince said such intelligent things.

"Are you forming some kind of theory?" she asked with a small smirk as the pair of them entered the kitchen.

The boy shrugged and shook his head, "if you want to know what's really bothering ma about all of this, then you'll have to ask her."

Regina rolled her eyes and asked, "and what makes you think that I care that much?"

Henry gave her a doubtful look as he jumped onto one of the stools and began watching as she started the long process of preparing a lasagna for dinner.

The former Evil Queen turned to look at his expression and rolled her eyes, "if she wishes to tell me then I will listen, but I won't be the one to force it out of her."

The boy's smirk only grew at her answer, he knew for a fact that trait was part of what would pair such a great couple, even if they were convinced that they would forever just be 'best friends'.

"So did she tell them that the two of you aren't together?"

Regina clenched her jaw slightly and then inclined her head, "there was no longer any point in maintaining the façade..."

Henry heaved his shoulders at how obviously she wanted to be with Emma, before another thought occurred to him, "what about Robin?"

The mayor continued to look down at the vegetables that she had began violently chopping, and finally she came to the decision to finally say out loud what she had decided earlier that day, "I refuse to believe that he can be my soulmate."

The boy was trying to stop himself from smiling broadly at the information he had known for a while. Even if it hadn't worked out, Regina had believed that Robin Hood was her True Love and it couldn't have been easy for her to admit that it wasn't meant to be.

"What made you realise that?" he asked caringly.

Regina finally made eye contact with her son and furrowed her brow, "you're awfully invested in my love live for a thirteen year old..."

Henry shrugged his shoulders and said, "despite popular belief, thirteen-year-olds are capable of caring."

The older brunette laughed lightly and placed the knife down on the counter, after a second, her expression became serious again.

She wasn't sure whether Henry would truly understand the issue she was having with Robin considering the sheltered life he had led for ten years. She wasn't even sure that he was fully aware of people having issues with sexuality.

"He told me that I wasn't allowed to pretend to be in a relationship with Emma because it would be wrong..."

"You probably should have told him about it...but he can't tell you what to do..." the boy replied and Regina held back a sigh when it became evident that he didn't fully understand.

Taking a deep breath, she replied, "I should have told him, but that wasn't the biggest issue he had with it..."

"I don't get it," the boy said with a furrowed brow.

The older brunette let out a huff when it became clear that she would have to explain, "he is under the impression that a relationship between two women is wrong."

"Why?!" Henry instantly asked in outrage.

Regina smiled slightly at his reaction and then replied, "some people believe that if a relationship cannot yield children, then it is unnatural..."

"But that makes no sense," the little brunette said, he desperately tried to think how it could possibly be plausible, but he just couldn't see how love could be seen as wrong.

"I agree, but these values have been deeply set into Robin, it's difficult to get someone to change their minds about something they have been taught since birth, no matter how little sense it makes."

"So you broke up with him because he's against your imaginary relationship?" the boy pondered.

Regina just shook her head and picked up the knife, "I broke up with him because he asked me to deny who I am, which is something I will never do again."

Henry smiled at the news and replied, "well I can't say that I'm against the break up."

His mother rolled her eyes playfully and said, "you should go and do your homework, the lasagna will be ready in about two hours..."

Henry nodded and hopped off the stool, before a thought occurred to him and he turned back to Regina, "did Emma tell them who I am?"

The brunette shook her head slowly and replied, "I'm sure she will, but..."

"She wants to keep her two worlds separate?" he asked instantly as the thought occurred to him.

The older of the two nodded slowly as she considered this, Henry was certainly the most insightful person in town, but then again he had spent a lot of time talking with Archie.

"Is she okay?" he asked in a small voice, "you know...physically?"

Regina offered him a small smiled and inclined her head, "she did hit her head, but I healed the wound. I'm sure even your grandparents are capable of covering her in a few blankets. If you're worried, I'll make sure she texts you when she wakes up."

Henry smirked slightly at her response and then nodded gratefully, "thanks, mom."

* * *

Emma shifted and grunted slightly as she registered the warmth filling her body that she had been missing when she had fallen asleep.

The next thing she realised was that she must have been on a very familiar shoulder, which was only confirmed when she felt someone lightly stroking her hair. Looking up, she smiled at Natalie, who smiled warmly down at her, "how are you feeling sweetheart?"

The blonde sighed in relief and shifted so she was sitting up straighter, though she was still leaned somewhat against the older woman, "I wasn't sure that you would actually come..."

Natalie smiled sadly and shook her head and said, "of course I did, you needed me to. Granted, this isn't quite the type of thing I used to help with...but you know we would all be there in a heartbeat to try and help."

Emma nodded, before she furrowed her brow and looked around herself, "what time is it?" she rasped.

"Two in the morning," Natalie replied softly, "your father took Blake and Riley back to the B&B but I'm sure he's waiting by the phone for my call..."

"What about..."

The older woman sighed as her daughter trailed off, and after a moment, she replied, "David had to go to work and Sn...Mary Margaret is asleep...and David suggested...Elsa should sleep in your room for tonight."

Emma looked over the back of the couch and noticed the small lump in her birth mother's bed and then looked back down at her lap, "I should have told you..."

Natalie sighed as she inspected the pain on her daughter's face and just pulled her into a tighter hug, "I understand why you tried to keep the truth from us...the magic is quite unbelievable."

"I didn't really care if you found out about the magic," the saviour admitted, "I mean...obviously it would have been easier if you didn't, but I was afraid of what you would think about David and Snow...I thought you would be hurt that I found them and would think that was the real reason that I hadn't talked to you guys in so long..."

"You was afraid of what I would think of your…real parents?"

Emma winced at the memories that phrase brought up and Natalie deflated, "it is a lot to take in, but we weren't planning to leave you, Emma."

The blonde bit her lip, a small smirk tugging at the corner as she replied, "that's probably a good thing, you can't leave until we find out how to get rid of the ice wall."

The older woman's eyebrows shot up and then she just shook her head, "you mean to tell me that there is literally a wall of ice blocking the town line? How can you be so casual about it?"

"Well…the Wicked Witch of the West attacked the town a couple of months ago and I ended up going back in time with Captain Hook, before that, we went to Neverland to save Henry from Peter Pan…"

Natalie held up her hand and laughed lightly as she said, "I get it."

They sat in silence for a moment, before the older woman said, "I thought of a question, but I'm not sure that I can ask it without sounding bitter…"

Emma swallowed hard and sat up straighter as she stared at her mother expectantly.

Natalie considered her words for a moment, eventually deciding that there was no nice way to say it, she asked, "how could you have forgiven them so quickly?"

"What do you mean?"

Her mother took a deep breath and said, "they abandoned you…"

Emma looked over at her sleeping biological mother and bit her lip in thought, she could no longer deny that the half-truths she had told about the curse had painted her parents in a negative light and there was no way that she could allow the Swans to hate them because she didn't want to reveal a certain piece of information.

"They wanted to keep me, but there is no way to know what could have happened if they did, the curse…"

"What is this curse?" Natalie asked with an exasperated sigh.

Emma tapped her fingers against the back of the couch and then explained, "the Evil Queen wanted to get revenge against Snow White by taking her happy ending away. She cast the curse which trapped everyone in a twenty-eight-year time loop where everyone was taken away from their happy ending…if they hadn't sent me here, I would have been trapped in the curse and it would never have been broken. They gave me, and everyone in town, their best chance."

Natalie took a second to allow this all to sink in, it all still felt like some fantasy that she couldn't possibly be involved in, but for her oldest child, she could at least try to accept this strange new reality without much fuss.

"You seem like you have thought about this a lot," she sighed.

The blonde nodded slowly and replied, "originally, I wanted to hate them, but they just made it impossible. It was so obvious that they wanted to be my parents, but they had to make a decision to save so many people, including me. Plus, I'm pretty sure that I prefer the life I got over having to be a princess…"

Natalie laughed lightly and brought her arm tightly around the woman, "it probably wouldn't have suited you."

They sat in silence for a moment, before the older woman asked, "did you not tell me this because Regina is the Evil Queen?"

Emma blinked a couple times as her mouth fell open slightly and she replied, "how could you possibly have known that?"

Her mother shrugged and said, "you were clearly attempting to protect whoever cast the curse by not telling us the truth. Plus, I do kind of feel like she is the only person I have met in this town who could possibly be the Evil Queen."

"She's not the Evil Queen anymore," Emma replied instantly.

Natalie's eyebrows shot up at the response and she asked, "does this mean that you forgave her as well?"

The blonde looked at her lap and nodded, "I know that I definitely could have hated Regina, I probably should have. But she's just not the woman that cast the curse anymore, she's…"

"The woman you love," the older woman supplied.

Emma's eyes bugged out and she quickly shot a look over to the other side of the room to double check that Snow was indeed asleep, before she turned back to her adoptive mother.

"Where did you get that from?" she laughed nervously.

"I have seen you in love, Emma, I recognised the way you looked at Regina, it was like her being in the same room as her made you feel lighter. What could possibly stand between the two of you being together?"

The saviour swallowed hard as all of the rationalisation she usually used flooded her mind, but this was her mother she was talking to, she would know if she was lying, so there was no point even trying.

"Well, for one, she has a boyfriend…and even if we've been getting along better lately, I'm pretty sure that Snow would have a heart attack…"

Natalie frowned, even if Emma's explanation had made her hate the woman a little less, hearing that she was standing in the way of her daughter's potential happiness made her angry, though she could understand there being certain people she would never want her children ending up with. The only frame of reference she had was the Disney movie and if that was anything to go by, it was fairly obvious why Snow White wouldn't want her daughter with the Evil Queen. But then again, if that movie was to be believed, then there was no way that Regina would be allowed to retain her freedom.

Running her hand across her face, she let out a frustrated sigh, which Emma instantly noticed.

"I always thought I gave perfect relationship advice, but this may be a little out of my realm of understanding."

Emma nodded slowly as she inspected the frustration so clear on the woman's face, and waved her hand.

Natalie almost jumped off the sofa when a book appeared on her lap and she looked at the woman desperately trying to hold back a snigger as she reached down to run her hands across the words 'Once Upon A Time.'

"Please warn me when you're going to do…"

"Magic?" Emma supplied.

The woman nodded as she continued to inspect the tome, pushing aside the fact of how many times she had seen her daughter do magic over the past twenty-four hours.

"What is this?"

Emma took a deep breath and considered whether this was a good idea, before she decided that there was no way that she could go back on this now, "it's Henry's story book, it's not the whole story, but it's a pretty good basis…"

"Not the whole story?" Natalie asked with a furrowed brow as she began flicking through, instantly seeing the many familiar faces in the illustrations.

"It's basically the story from the point of view of the heroes, you just need to remember that there is more to Regina than you read in there."

"I think I can do that, speaking of my grandson, you were supposed to text him when you woke up," she said without looking up, but she had a very clear smirk on her face.

Emma's mouth fell open and she finally choked out, "how do you know everything?"

"Has all that time away made you forget who I am, Emma," she chuckled, finally making eye contact again.

The blonde let out a little sigh of relief at the comforting gaze and fully fell back onto her shoulder, "was it really that obvious?"

"Not at first," she admitted, "but as soon as it became clear why David's eyes were so familiar, it wasn't hard to guess, even if it freaked me out for a while...Does this mean that you and Regina have some kind of joint custody agreement?"

The saviour nodded against her shoulder and replied, "we're like his co-parents…"

Natalie sighed at how obviously grown up her daughter had become in the past few years, even if she had often wondered what life her grandson had led, she had never thought that she would have the opportunity to find out. Now that she had met him, she couldn't stop the feeling of pride, even if she knew very little about the boy. He just looked so obviously happy with the life he had gotten and she couldn't even express how it felt to know that her child played a part in that happiness. Of course, it would be better if his 'co-parents' weren't just best friends, but she could see that there was a lot getting in the way of their relationship. Even if she liked the idea of Emma having such an epic romance, she could admit that some things just weren't meant to be, and there was no way she was going to set up her little girl for heart break.

"You know, maybe just for now…you should try and find someone who is more…available than Regina…"

Emma nodded slowly, compared to Snow, Natalie could be seen as a pessimist, but the blonde had always appreciated the blunt truth. There were many occasions in her life where one of Snow's hope speeches could have made things a lot worse.

"I have tried, but I haven't really got much time to focus on my love life…"

"It does sound like you have a rather full schedule," Natalie sighed as she began lightly stroking the blonde locks again and added, "though you do need to find time to formally introduce your family to your son."

Emma nodded, "duly noted," she yawned.

"Get some more sleep, darling, I'll call your father and get going…"

The blonde's eyes were already half closed as her head fell onto the other woman's lap, "please stay, mom?" she mumbled.

"Of course," Natalie sighed contently as she placed the storybook on the coffee table.

Throughout the entire conversation, neither of them noticed the very much awake Snow White gripping her pillow in frustration as tried to take in all she had heard.

 **A/N I would love to hear what you guys thought XD**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N T/W for homphobia and mild violence and also a warning to anyone who likes Robin he is OOC I guess.**

Chapter six

Henry looked around the booth and smiled weakly at each person staring at him.

Emma had offered to be there, but he had insisted that she should be helping Elsa to find her sister, a decision that he was now regretting surrounded by the four people he had previously met under false pretences.

Swallowing a piece of his breakfast hard, he waited for someone to say something.

Finally, Natalie seemed to decide that she had spent long enough inspecting the resemblance, he even had the same expression Emma wore when she was nervous and the woman wasn't sure whether it should freak her out or warm her heart.

"So, Henry…" she began, before she trailed off when she realised that she had no questions, it wasn't like she had ever had to learn everything about a twelve-year-old before. Especially considering that it sounded like the boy had been on more adventures than most people went on in a lifetime.

The brunette smiled at her somewhat awkward attempt to talk to him, he couldn't help but notice just how much more naturally they had all talked to him the other night.

Deciding to give them all a break from the silence, he thought of a few random facts that could appease them.

"My name is Henry Daniel Mills, I have a perfect GPA, my dream is to be a writer when I'm older and I think that Marvel is better than DC."

"What?" Blake asked indignantly.

Nathan held up his hand, telling the teen that they could have this argument later, which caused Blake to rolled his eyes and continue with his food.

After a moment, Natalie asked, "Mills?"

Henry nodded slowly and replied, "it was Henry Swan for a year, but you know…Emma would never change her name to Emma White…"

Natalie visibly winced and the young brunette wondered just how long it would take the woman to come to terms with the fact that her daughter had found her birth parents. Then he thought back to the little war that his two mothers had engaged in for over a year and he prayed that the same thing wouldn't happen between his two sets of grandparents.

They fell back into silence for about thirty seconds, before Blake asked, "so is the story you told us by bringing Emma here true?"

Henry swallowed hard, he knew that a story about wanting his biological mother more than his adoptive one would not be appreciated by these people, but he could hardly come up with some lie considering they were now officially part of his family.

Remembering that Emma had informed him that she had told Natalie, who in turn had told the rest of her family, about just who Regina was in the Enchanted Forest, he knew that the truth couldn't hurt that much since none of them had any rejections against the Evil Queen being a part of their family.

"I got my storybook not long after I found out I was adopted…I stole grandma's credit card and found out where Emma lived. I…I thought that mom was evil and that I needed to bring the saviour here to bring back everyone's happy endings. They fought over me for a while, but they eventually became friends…"

Blake nodded knowingly and Henry got the distinct feeling that they all knew the little fact of them wanting to be more than friends that everyone in town was pretty much aware of.

"Can you show me where the rest room is?" the older teen asked after a moment.

Henry looked between Natalie and Nathan who were each giving Blake curious looks as if they knew he was planning something, but he just nodded and hopped out of the booth.

They walked in silence to the men's room, and the younger of the two pushed the door open and gestured inside.

Blake grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, quickly making sure that the stools were empty, he asked, "you do want your…moms together, right?"

The younger boy noted the trouble the boy was having calling his sister a mom, but he figured that it would take a while to come to terms with just how much his family had grown during what was supposed to be a simple visit.

"Obviously," he replied, "I'm like ninety-nine percent sure that they're True Loves."

Blake blinked a couple of times at his phrasing, but just shook his head and said, "whatever…Emma has never found it easy to fall in love so it seems a bit unfair that she finally found something that could be perfect, but it won't happen. What could possibly be keeping them apart?"

Henry shrugged and replied, "pixie dust said that Robin Hood was my mom's soulmate, so I think Emma gave up on her crush…"

"Pixie dust…" the older teen repeated slowly, he was really beginning to wonder when he had last heard someone say something normal.

The boy rolled his eyes and said, "basically, Tinkerbell found out that the man with the lion tattoo was her soulmate, so she thought they were meant to be together. But she broke up with him earlier…"

Blake shook his head, "Tinkerbell?" Henry was about to reply, but the older boy just held up his hand and said, "it doesn't matter, we need to find a way to get their relationship to not be fake."

"I'm working on that," Henry replied, "Operation Mongoose is just going really slowly."

Blake tilted his head and smirked at the boy, "you're a really weird kid aren't you?"

The brunette shrugged and said, "I live in a weird town."

"I can see that," Blake muttered, "so what does…. Operation Mongoose involve?"

"I haven't really gotten past the name," he admitted.

The older teen rolled his eyes and said, "well I'm involved now, offer to give me and Riley a tour around town and we can help."

"What makes you think you would be better at this than me?" Henry asked somewhat petulantly.

"You know Emma as your mom, she is my sister so I know little things that she would never tell you."

"Like what?" Henry asked curiously.

"I know that Regina is her type," Blake smirked, "now come on before they figure out we're up to something."

Henry nodded vigorously and followed his uncle out of the rest room.

* * *

"I'm really sorry about all of the family drama…" Emma said as and Elsa continued to look through the town records for any sign of Anna.

The blonde looked up from the document that she didn't truly understand and shot the other woman a good-natured smile, "it's quite alright. I'm no stranger to familial strife…though your situation does seem like a lot to handle."

Emma sighed and shook her head, "well even though they're all fighting and freaked out, at least I know where they are. I don't know what I would do if I ever lost Riley…"

"I think it's safe to assume that you wouldn't create a wall of ice," Elsa chuckled lightly, though bitterness shown through her words.

The other blonde tilted her head and offered the woman a smile of support, "you never know, my magic tends to have a mind of its own."

Elsa stared blankly at another piece of paper and blinked away a stray tear trying to escape. Never in her life had she thought that she would find someone capable of fully understanding her, as much as she adored having Anna's support, the red-head had no way of knowing what it was like to lose control.

"You seem to have some degree of control over it," she sighed.

Emma shrugged and covertly looked down at her hands, "that's just because Regina gave me a few magic lessons, but I don't think I'll ever have as much control over it as she does…"

Elsa nodded her understanding and was about to reply, but she visibly jumped when a loud noise filled the sheriff's station.

The other blonde stopped herself from laughing and held up her hands to tell her it was safe as she went over to her desk and picked up the phone, "sheriff Swan."

The princess watched curiously as the other woman talked into the strange device and she wondered if she would need to get used to all of the strange technology of this land. But she knew that given the choice, she would return to Arendelle in a heartbeat, even if she had seemed to make fast friends with Emma Swan.

The sheriff placed the phone down and sighed audibly, "the Merry Men were attacked by a snow creature."

Elsa tilted her head and said, "you don't seem too worried about that."

Emma fell back to sit next to her and shrugged her shoulders, "Regina dealt with it."

The other blonde inspected her new friend and noted the tension in her expression as she pulled a random piece of paper towards herself, "does that bother you?"

The saviour refused to make eye contact for a moment, before she looked up and said, "she's dating the leader of the Merry Men and I don't think that he makes her happy. She's my best friend and I don't want her to think that she has to stay with him."

"You don't think that she has the sense to end a bad relationship herself?" Elsa asked, deciding that not to mention that her tone didn't suggest she was talking about her friend.

"If he did anything particularly bad to her, she could incinerate him in a second, but I do think that she gives him more tolerance than she would give most people because she thinks he's her soulmate."

Elsa nodded slowly and asked, "as her best friend, should you not just tell her this?"

Emma took a deep breath and replied, "I didn't think it would be a good idea to break up soulmates."

The other blonde looked at her doubtfully and said, "do you need to go and do something about what happened?"

The sheriff shook her head and replied, "they're safe now and Regina has convinced them to stay in town until we find out who sent the monster after them…we can't do anything until we find out who the real villain is."

The princess sat in silence for a second as she thought this through, she was sure that she would remember if there was another person with similar powers to her, but there was something else that was bothering her.

"What makes you so sure that it isn't me?" she asked in a hollow voice, not mentioning that she had spent much of her life isolated because so many were afraid of her abilities, not least herself.

Emma furrowed her brow and shook her head, "I can always tell when people are lying, when you said you were looking for Anna, I knew that you didn't have any hidden agenda. It's not impossible that two people came to town at the same time with the same powers…"

"It does seem unlikely though," she countered.

"But not impossible," Emma repeated.

For the first time in a while, Elsa smiled broadly at the other woman, she couldn't really describe how good it felt to have someone believe in her. Somehow it actually felt better than Anna's acceptance, since it didn't take as much for this blonde woman to trust her. The strange thing was that she trusted her in turn, if only she knew where Anna and Kristoff were, she would be content.

"So how do you suggest that we find out who the real issue is, I mean…you have no idea, right?"

Emma shrugged and smirked slightly, "villains have a habit of announcing their plans one way or another eventually."

Elsa found the other woman's confidence infectious as she told herself that she would find her sister before she knew it and everything would go back to normal.

Though, as she looked at those green eyes, she wondered if she would want everything to go back to exactly how it was.

* * *

-Two hours later-

Elsa let out a deep huff of frustration as she pushed aside yet another pile of useless information and said, "this is completely pointless, Emma."

The saviour looked up at the other blonde and nodded her agreement, "it was worth a shot I guess, I just have no idea how else we could possibly find her…"

"Are you sure that she is even in Storybrooke?" Elsa asked desperately wishing that the answer was yes.

Emma shook her head and said, "there are quite a lot of people in this town that I don't know, but from what you've told me about her, I'm pretty sure that I would have noticed her around…"

Elsa smiled weakly and nodded her agreement, "she certainly stands out amongst the crowd."

"It's going to be okay, Elsa, I will do anything it takes to help you find her," the saviour assured, "it would be good if we had any idea where to start though…"

"Maybe we should start with finding out if she is in this realm?" the other blonde suggested.

Pulling out her phone, Emma began texting Regina as she explained, "I probably wouldn't be the best person to do that, but Reg…"

Before she could finish, she heard the distinctive sound of the door opening and a moment later, three sets of footsteps sounded out throughout the station.

Furrowing her brow, she stood from her seat and stood in a defensive position, until Blake, Riley and Henry came into view.

"What are you guys doing here?" she asked in confusion, not adding that she was worried about exactly where Natalie and Nathan were.

Henry looked at his aunt and uncle and shrugged, they had discussed a few ideas for Operation Mongoose, but ultimately they had decided that they needed food to be productive. Natalie and Nathan had left a note saying that they had gone to talk with Mary Margaret and David, something than none of them wanted to get mixed up in, so they had gone with plan B.

"We need $10," the brunette said with a charming grin.

Blake blinked a couple of times at how bizarre it seemed that this boy was talking to his sister in the same way that he had witnessed the blonde talking to Natalie when she wanted something. He turned to Riley and it soon became clear that she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary as she stared at Elsa. Rolling his eyes, he nudged her, but the girl refused to look away from the princess.

"What for?" Emma replied.

"Er…lunch," he tried.

"You think that you can get lunch for three with ten dollars?" his mother asked sceptically.

Henry's shoulders heaved and he said, "will you stop with the superpower, ma?"

"Nope," she replied triumphantly, "now what do you really need it for?"

"Snacks," Henry sighed.

"You know your mom would kill me."

The brunette boy rolled his eyes and said, "who said that snacks can't be fruit?"

"Nice try," Emma laughed.

The boy pouted and the blonde continued to shake her head.

Blake crossed his arms and said, "don't be a dick, Emma."

Henry's eyebrows shot up and the older Swan scowled deeply at him, "do you have to?"

"Yep, you're not my mom," he smirked.

Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head, "I can tell mom what you said though."

"You wouldn't," he replied with narrowed eyes.

The blonde was about to reply that she would, when she heard the sound of a door crashing open violently.

It didn't take long for the owner of the loud stomps to make themselves known, as Robin walked into the station, his eyes instantly seeking out the sheriff.

Without words, he crossed the room in a split second and stood just behind the three children, "what the hell did you do to Regina?"

Emma clenched and unclenched her hands to maintain her composure, the man really had a face that she wanted to punch and right now seemed like a very good time to do it.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said through gritted teeth.

"She broke up with me earlier," he almost shouted.

The saviour blinked a couple of times and had to hold back a smile as she realised that was why Regina had been with the Merry Men when the snow creature had attacked. It had really bothered her that the mayor would even think about spending time with the thief after everything he had said about her sexuality and now she couldn't stop the feeling of pride mixed with hope that filled her stomach.

She shot a look over at Elsa who had just been staring since the three children had shown up, but now, she looked confused about what was going on, as well as slightly worried about something.

Turning back to the blond, she said, "I don't see what I have to do with that."

Robin huffed and said, "if you hadn't asked her to pretend to be in a relationship with you, then I could have gone the rest of my life without finding out about her…tendencies…"

"Or you would have said something homophobic and she would have kicked you out of her house in a heartbeat," Emma shot back. "Even if I had never asked her to help me out, that doesn't change the fact that she is bisexual and that will always be part of who she is."

"But I didn't have to know that! She is supposed to be my soulmate you turned her into a lesbian you fucking dyke!"

Emma's mouth fell open slightly, but she had a retort on the tip of her tongue.

Before she could say it, however, Blake came forward and his fist smashed into the man's jaw.

Robin fell to his knees, clutching his face, he looked up contemptuously at the teen and rose to his feet, and everything seemed to go into slow motion as Emma saw his hand preparing for a slap.

Before she could launch forward to knock him out, a purple glow engulfed his arm and the clicking of heels announced a new arrival.

As she crossed the station, Regina narrowed her eyes at her former boyfriend, and once she was close enough that she didn't have to yell to be heard, she said, "what do you think you're doing?"

Robin swallowed hard and desperately tried to move his arm, but there was no way that his brute force could beat the power of the former Evil Queen and he eventually gave up. Riley stared in shock at the magic surrounding his arm, but Blake was visibly shaking from anger.

Regina looked around at everyone present and she scowled when she saw that Henry had been present for the man's display of homophobia, that certainly wouldn't be helping his case.

"She ruined our relationship," the thief growled.

"Actually, Robin, you ruined it and harassing my friend certainly won't be helping you to win back my affection."

The blond took a deep breath and looked around the room at all of the looks of disapproval, it was really frustrating him that the only people he could seem to get to agree with him on the matter were the Merry Men. Even then, he could tell that a few of them were judging him.

Robin huffed and Regina finally allowed his arm freedom, which allowed him to storm out of the room.

Once she was sure he was gone, she asked, "are you okay, Emma?"

The blonde blinked a couple of times when she registered the caring expression on her face, but she reminded herself that there was absolutely no way that their relationship could work in real life.

Smiling her assurance, she said, "I'm fine."

Riley placed her arm on her brother's shoulder and he seemed to visibly relax as his other sister came over and took his hand in her own.

Emma inspected his hand intently and finally decided that he hadn't hurt himself trying to defend her, "you really shouldn't have done that, Blake," she said softly.

"He called you a dyke," the younger Swan sighed, "I can't stand that word…"

The blonde thought about a time when she had been afraid to tell her family about her sexuality and she couldn't help but feel completely ridiculous now for ever thinking they would be anything but supportive.

"I know," she replied, pulling him into an appreciative hug, "but I'm the sheriff and the mayor is standing right there."

Blake let out a little laugh and Emma smiled as her plan to cheer up her little brother seemed to have worked.

After a couple of seconds, the teen pushed his sister away playfully and said, "you should have arrested him…"

"And have him in the holding cell for hours?" the blonde asked incredulously, but she instantly cringed when she realised that her tone made it clear that she didn't like him.

The brunette just smiled at the other woman and said, "it's alright, dear, I broke up with him for a reason."

They all stood in silence for a moment, before Henry turned to his brunette mother and smiled broadly at her, "you finally broke up with him?"

Regina nodded and said, "a couple of hours ago, if I had known that he would come here..."

Emma held up her hand as the mayor turned to look at her and shook her head, "it's really okay, Regina, he would have gotten punched even if Blake wasn't here."

The brunette tilted her head, silently warning her about the message she was sending her son, but she soon gave up on the look when she realised that it was unlikely that Henry would ever use physical violence to solve his problems. It wasn't as if Emma was the only one in his family who promoted violence.

Regina nodded and finally realised that there was one person in the room who had been silent throughout the entire scene. She inspected Elsa for a moment and remembered that they had spent the last couple of hours searching for evidence of someone named Anna.

Looking away from her, she turned to Henry and asked, "what brought you to the station?"

Henry bit his lip as he remembered his intention of getting candy and he looked over at his other mother who just nodded, giving him permission to lie.

"We was just inviting ma to lunch…"

The mayor nodded and said, "strangely enough, that's exactly why I'm here…"

Emma's eyebrows shot up and she looked over at Elsa who had her arms crossed defensively.

She looked between the blonde and the brunette, and reminded herself of her mother's words from earlier.

"Actually, we haven't made much progress so I think I should probably stay here…but do you have anything on tracking spells?"

Regina's mouth fell open slightly as she wondered whether the sheriff had ever denied an invitation to lunch since they have become friends.

After her shock fell away slightly, she brought her hand up and a small leather bound book appeared and she handed it to the saviour.

"Thanks," the saviour mumbled as she took it and began flipping through it.

Regina watched her for a second before she shook her head as it looked as though the blonde was fully engrossed, though it wasn't like she was going to admit that she wanted to talk about her break up with her best friend.

"Do you want to come with us to lunch, mom?" Henry asked to diffuse the awkwardness.

The brunette looked away from the sheriff and nodded slowly, still hoping that the other woman would look away from the book she was reading intently.

Finally, she seemed to realise that the other people would be leaving and Emma looked up and smiled at them, "I'll see you guys later, okay?"

Regina swallowed hard and the three children standing near her noticed that her hands were clenched, she didn't know why it hurt that Emma was choosing to stay with the newcomer. She was just trying to play through the current crisis, just like the saviour had to do with everything that had happened in this town for the past four years.

"Could you please ensure to inform me if Robin has anymore outbursts, sheriff?"

Blake frowned at the formality of what she had said and looked over to Henry who just nodded to tell him that it was perfectly normal.

With that, Regina turned on her heels and left the station, Blake, Riley and Henry looked over at Emma, all willing for her to wave at Regina or something and stop focusing on Elsa, but she had already walked back over to the other blonde princess.

All three of them sighed at the same time as they all saw just why their relationship had yet to go forward, and then they turned to follow the mayor to the diner.

* * *

"Snow, calm down," David whispered loudly as he shot glances at their sleeping son.

The brunette woman just frowned even deeper at him and said, "you expect me to calm down about the fact that my own daughter is too afraid to be happy because she thinks I'll disapprove. Natalie told her that she loves Regina after like one question, but she has never even told me that she had any feelings for her…"

"Wait," the blond man said, holding up both hands, "you're angry because she didn't tell you?"

Snow furrowed her brow and replied, "what did you think I was angry about?"

David shrugged, "I thought you would be freaked out that Emma loves Regina…I mean, I had a whole thing planned for when you found out…"

"How long have you know?!"

Her husband sighed loudly as he realised that he had just accidently revealed the truth he had been hiding for a while, "I noticed the way that they look at each other, but I was sure that you would be completely freaked out…"

"I…" Snow began, but she trailed off when she realised that Emma had thought the same thing, which had stopped her from perusing what could possibly be her happy ending. It hurt to know that she had been standing in the way of it for who knew how long, "I would have had a problem with it before Zelena…but Regina's different now, anyone would be lucky to have their child be loved by her…"

David tilted his head and blinked a couple of times, "you're awfully enlightened about all of this…"

The princess narrowed her eyes at him and asked, "does everyone think that I'm so…disapproving…"

"Err…is this a trap?"

Snow shook her head and sighed, "just forget the question…the point is that Emma is more comfortable telling Natalie how she feels than she will ever be with me."

"Of course she is," David replied exasperatedly, "she has spent her whole life telling her about her feelings. Imagine if you found out that Eva wasn't your mother, do you think that you would ever tell her how you felt?"

"That...that is ridiculous," the brunette shot back.

The blond rolled his eyes and sighed deeply, "I'm just trying to make a point, Mary Margaret, tell me that after four years you would see this new woman as your mother."

The woman bit her lip, but after a moment of thought she shook her head, it just wasn't helping. She had been searching for something that would make her feel better about the new development in her life. It just hurt to know that there was a woman who knew so much more about her daughter.

Natalie saw her first steps, she knew what her first word was and she had years of stories that she could tell about Emma. All Snow had was four years of stories about the constant crises she had dealt with.

She was immensely proud of the woman she had become, how willing the saviour was to always help the people of the town, but knowing that she was a hero, just wasn't enough anymore.

"This isn't helping, David!" Snow finally exploded and a loud crying filled the apartment as Neal's nap was abruptly cut short.

Snow rushed over to the crib and started whispering how sorry she was and David was about to go over and help, but his attempt was cut short by a knock at the door.

The blond covered the apartment in a few steps and yanked to door open, almost wincing when he saw who had come to visit them. He had no issue talking to Natalie and Nathan Swan, but this certainly wasn't the best time for them to show up considering Snow seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw Snow staring at the visitors with narrowed eyes and he swallowed hard as he felt that she would attack if Neal wasn't in her arms.

"This really isn't the best time…" he said, desperately hoping that they wouldn't take it the wrong way.

Natalie and Nathan exchanged a look, and the female of the two instantly recognised the wailing and knew why they were being dismissed. There were many times throughout her life when a crying child had made her angry at every adult who wanted her attention.

David walked back over to his wife and peered down at the baby she was rocking from side to side.

He didn't notice that he had left the front door open as he began making soft shushing noises, though nothing either of them were doing seemed to be able to make the child calm down even a little bit.

The crying continued for about a minute until another sound joined the onslaught of noise.

Snow and Charming each looked over to the source of the white noise, which turned out to be Natalie's phone as she held out the device that she had quickly found the music on YouTube on.

The two Charmings looked at her questioningly, but it didn't take long for both of their eyebrows to shoot up as Neal began to calm down quicker than he had since he was born. After thirty seconds, the infant had been lulled back into his sleepy state and Snow blinked a couple of times, before she placed him back into the crib.

"How did you do that?" the brunette asked, clearly still shell shocked.

Natalie opened her mouth to reply as she switched off her phone, but she realised that the explanation probably wouldn't help. Then again, she couldn't think of any other way to explain and it seemed as though the two of them would appreciate little bits of information about their daughter.

"White noise always made Emma go to sleep within minutes," she admitted.

David's mouth morphed into a small smile as he thought about baby Emma sleeping as soundly as his son currently was, but then he realised what had just happened and he turned to look at Snow whose face had dropped as she took in this information. She seemed to be torn between a similar smile to the one her husband had been wearing and also complete and utter anger that the woman would dare to bring that up.

"Why are you two here?" she finally asked as she allowed some of the tension in her shoulders to fall away, though her jaw had yet to go back to how it usually looked.

Natalie brought her bottom lip into her mouth and crossed her arms as she and her husband walked further into the apartment. The two of them ended up standing over seven feet away from the Charmings.

"We wanted to have a mature conversation about everything…" Nathan offered.

David looked away from his wife and over to the other couple, he had to admire the courage it must have taken for them to come over and try and have a mature conversation. As he looked back over to Snow, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the Swans, they obviously were not aware that they were in the presence of one of the stubbornest women who had ever lived. But then again, they probably had not gotten used to the idea that there were so many royals in this town and they certainly had no idea just how set in their ways many of them were.

"What is there to talk about?" Snow asked with narrowed eyes.

Natalie swallowed hard under the other woman's stare, which was completely ridiculous considering that she was half her age, at least technically speaking.

"We need to talk about the fact that we are all Emma's parents," Nathan supplied.

The brunette took a deep breath and began, "technically…"

"Mary Margaret!" David hissed.

The princess rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, suddenly she remembered how easily Emma and Natalie had talked, and she knew that there was no way that she could deny that they certainly had the mother-daughter relationship that she desperately wanted. But that thought only made her thoughts even bitterer.

The other woman was about to retort, but Nathan nudged her warningly, Natalie looked at him with narrowed eyes and he just vigorously shook his head.

The four of them stood in silence for ten, very awkward, seconds, until David said, "I know that it isn't easy, but we are all Emma's parents and we need to find a way to get along."

Natalie nodded her agreement, thankful that at one of them seemed to be rational, she asked, "and how do you suppose that we do that?"

David bit his lip and thought this through, before he just shook his head, "I have no idea…but maybe we could just not be at each other's throats at all times. It can't be easy for Emma to have to choose…"

Natalie scoffed and Snow narrowed her eyes at the other woman.

"What?" she whispered loudly, not really prepared to wake up her sleeping son and be made to feel like an incompetent mother again.

"It's nothing," Natalie quickly said, holding up both hands to try and placate the other woman.

"No, what did that noise mean?" the brunette growled.

The older woman bit her lip and began regretting allowing that noise to make its way out of her mouth, she had promised Nathan that she would at least try after all.

"I was just thinking that…if she ever had to choose, do you really think it would be that difficult?"

Snow took a couple deep breaths as she took this in and asked, "and why wouldn't it be?"

"I didn't mean anything by it," Natalie tried to assure, though the fact that her voice was very uneven made it clear that she was lying.

"Did you mean that she would choose you?" Snow asked lowly.

Nathan shot his wife an exasperated look and she knew that he was disappointed in her lack of ability to be civil.

Despite this, she couldn't stop her reply: "well…she has known us much longer."

Snow clenched her firsts and David closed his eyes in frustration, he wasn't exactly mad at what she said, since she technically had a point, but her words still hurt.

"Get out," Snow whispered as she stared at the ground, knowing that she would most likely shout if she looked at them.

Natalie was about to apologise, but before she could, Nathan just grabbed her arm and lightly pulled her out of the apartment. As he did so, he whispered, "I don't think this is helping."

As the door lightly shut, Snow crossed her arms and placed her thumbnail in her mouth as she began pacing.

David came over and placed his hands on her shoulders, he didn't have to see her face to know that there were tears forming in his wife's eyes.

"It's going to be okay," he whispered.

Snow shook her head hollowly and asked, "when?"

"When we stop fighting over her and all be her parents."

The brunette shrugged free of his grip and walked over to the crib and looked down at Neal, very tempted to reach down and stroke his few strands of hair, but she stopped herself knowing that waking him up again would be a very bad idea.

"They're not her parents," she whispered.

"Yes. They. Are!" David said through gritted teeth.

Snow looked over her shoulder and just shook her head. She knew that she was being irrational, but that didn't stop the feelings that David didn't seem capable of feeling.

"Please leave me alone, David," she sighed.

He was about to protest, before he recognised the tone she had employed, he knew that it meant he was in trouble unless he admitted he was wrong. They both knew that he wasn't, so that meant that he just had to leave her alone.

As he turned to go and get some coffee two hours before work, he wondered whether his wife would ever be mature enough to stop making their daughters life more difficult.

 **A/N I need to thank my beta QueenApples for always being so helpful and PerditusFic for always answering my questions XD**

 **Reviews are a great motivator :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Hey guys, I'm really sorry, I didn't realise how long its been since I updated this fic.**

 **I'm on a kind of hiatus at the moment while I deal with more work hours and uni deadlines, so I can't promise when the next update will be, but it shouldn't take as long as it did again. Hope you enjoy :)**

Chapter seven

"What the hell happened back there?" Blake finally hissed once Regina had excused herself from the table to use the restroom.

Henry looked up from his last few fries and swallowed hard, "what do you mean?" he asked with a furrowed brow, grabbing a napkin from the centre of the table.

"You said that you were convinced that Emma likes Regina, so why wouldn't she jump at the chance to go to lunch with her?"

The younger boy shrugged and replied, "they have a really complicated relationship, I'm not even sure that they understand it themselves…Ma usually never says no to spending time with mom, but maybe she thinks that the sooner she helps Elsa, the sooner the newest crisis will be over."

"Crisis?" Riley asked in confusion, now finally paying attention after she'd finished her food, "how can Elsa be a crisis?"

Henry resisted the urge to laugh at the excitement in her voice when she just said the name and he made a mental note to ask his blonde mother to arrange for her to spend more time with the princess whilst she was still here.

"It's not Elsa that's the problem, but someone sent that snowman that attacked Main Street…mom and ma usually work together to work things out…I don't know what's different this time…"

"What were the last crisis's?" Blake asked, his features pinched in concentration as he began to form a theory.

"Well, they were kind of enemies for the first few," he sighed, he hated thinking back to a time when he pretended not to love his mother, but he couldn't deny that it happened. "But they have worked together to defeat Peter Pan and the Wicked Witch of the West."

The teenager on the other side of the table tilted his head and asked, "the Wicked Witch?"

"Yeah, she's kind of my aunt…"

Blake sighed in relief and replied, "that's alright then."

Henry gave him a curious look, but before he could ask him what he was thinking, he heard the very distinctive clicking of heels and looked over his shoulder to see his mother returning to the table.

The three of them quickly fell into silence and pretended to be very interested in their nearly empty plates as Regina fell into her seat next to her son. The mayor narrowed her eyes, she had become very adept at being able to recognise when Henry was planning an operation and she had no doubt that he was in the midst of discussing it with his new found aunt and uncle.

"What were you talking about?" she tried to ask in an almost disinterested tone before she lifted up her mug to finish off the last bit of coffee.

"Nothing, mom," Henry replied far too quickly, without even making eye contact.

The brunette raised her eyebrow at him and said, "I don't need your mother's ridiculous 'superpower' to know that you're lying."

Henry let out a sigh. He couldn't remember exactly when Regina had started referring to Emma as his mother, but he had to admit that he liked it. However, them being a better team did mean that it was more difficult for him to get away with his plans. The saviour and the Evil Queen certainly made a formidable 'parenting unit'.

"What is this operation about, Henry?" she insisted.

He bit his lip and looked across the table to see that Blake and Riley looked completely shocked at how quickly this was beginning to fall apart.

However, the oldest of the two suddenly got an idea and a smile spread across his face when he said, "we think that my sister has a crush on someone, so we were discussing ways to get her to finally admit how she feels."

Regina felt her stomach drop, whilst also somehow feeling butterflies erupt, her features tightened and she desperately tried to maintain her indifference.

Henry smirked slightly when he noticed his mother tried to covertly swallow hard, but from his position, it wasn't hard for him to imagine the reaction she was attempting to hide.

After a second, the oldest person at the table asked, with faux disinterest and yet with a degree of hope, "and who could the sheriff be infatuated with?"

"Elsa," Blake replied, ignoring Henry and Riley's questioning glances.

The brunette bit the inside of her cheek harder than she thought possible, but in that moment, she didn't even care if she drew blood. All that mattered was that Blake had just voiced her fear. She had refused to think about the reasons that Emma hadn't wanted to go to lunch with her, since she had tried to convince herself that it shouldn't matter. They were strictly friends, which meant there was no reason that the blonde would be obligated to want to spend all of her time with the mayor.

However, that rationale didn't help with the fact that the sheriff had never refused to spend time with her, and it certainly didn't help that she had done so to assist Elsa. Granted, if she had simply told the woman that she wanted someone to talk to about Robin, she was pretty sure that she would be here right now telling her how much of a jackass she always thought she was. Now, though, she could feel some doubt bloom within her. If Emma truly had a thing for Elsa then perhaps her candour wouldn't have made a difference.

A full ten seconds of silence past, before the brunette regally rose from her seat and said as equally as she could, "that's good for the sheriff…I shall leave you to operation…"

"Mongoose," Henry supplied, trying to hide a smirk at her obvious jealousy.

Regina furrowed her brow at the name for a moment, before she continued with what she was saying, "I have been away from work long enough, I'll see you later, Henry."

The younger brunette barely got a 'goodbye' in, before his mother abruptly turned on her heels and all but stormed out of the diner.

Once he was satisfied that she was gone, Blake let out a sigh of relief and said, "I thought that would work."

Riley tilted her head, clearly not fully understanding what had just happened, "you thought what would work?"

"Well, I had to test my theory," he replied simply, which made the other boy at the table shoot him a confused look. "You said that you didn't know what the problem is during this crisis. Obviously Peter Pan was a teenager, I'm guessing, so there would be no romantic issues. The Wicked Witch was Regina's sister, so it would have been weird for Emma to try anything, plus I'm assuming she was insane. But this time, there's Elsa. She's part of the crisis, but she's not evil, she and Emma would make a perfectly good couple, which probably freaks Regina out. And Emma has been jealous of Regina and Robin for so long that she probably thinks that moving on would be the best thing to do, in fact, I know that's the exact advice that mom always gives us when we're having romantic issues…"

Riley seemed to be taking this in, but Henry just grinned at him, he had always wanted someone who was as observant as he was. He finally felt like he had someone who could make this operation work.

"How could you have figured all of that out in like five minutes?"

Blake shrugged and replied, "considering how weird this town is, the people in it are oddly predictable."

* * *

David raised his hand to the door, but hesitated and pulled his arm back to his side.

Though he didn't agree with the way that his wife had been dealing with the current situation they were in, he could certainly understand her feelings.

Even if he wasn't overtly voicing his internal conflict, it hurt to know that Nathan had been the paternal figure to his little girl. He had seen all of the milestones that he wasn't able to, because he was in a cursed town, in a completely comatose state while she was living her life.

Despite all of these doubts, the alternative had hurt him a lot more.

The mere thought of a young Emma being alone, physically pained him. Particularly during uneventful shifts at the sheriff's station, he had imagined scenarios based largely upon what he had seen on TV. He always wished that he could have been there to protect her.

Now, though, he knew that she had never had to suffer any of the things he had imagined. She had grown up with amazing parents and siblings who clearly looked up to her.

They were all there for her during what could have been the worst chapter of her life, going to prison and giving up her son. So even if he was certainly jealous of that they had the opportunities that were never afforded to him or Snow, there was no way that he could ever begrudge them anything.

With that in mind, he steeled his resolve and knocked on the door he had been stood in front of for a good five minutes.

The blond waited with bated breath until finally the door opened to reveal Nathan, who had clearly just been having a discussion with his wife. David had no doubt that it was probably an argument as to why they had to accept their daughter's birth parents.

This was only confirmed when the man instantly moved to shut the door in his face.

The Prince Charming quickly put his foot in the way and held up his hands in surrender, "I'm here to apologise," he said quickly.

The other man narrowed his eyes, but he quickly remembered that it wasn't David he should be mad at, even if he really wanted to. So he just relented and opened the door to allow the deputy into the B & B room.

The younger man smiled gratefully and quickly walked in to see Natalie sat on the bed, looking as though she was very much prepared to shout at him, even if the thought of this gentle woman raising her voice felt somehow wrong.

"Why are you here?" she finally asked when it became clear that he was set upon simply standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

David took a deep breath and replied, "I'm here to apologise for my wife's behaviour, she shouldn't have kicked you out and she certainly should have been more willing to listen to you."

Natalie and Nathan exchanged looks of shock, obviously they were not expecting an apology, at least not this soon anyway. The blond seemed as though he was completely unwilling to go against anything that Snow said, but he was determined to be listened to on this.

"I'm assuming that you're not speaking for Mary Margret," Nathan replied.

The deputy sighed and shook his head, "she's having some difficulty coming to terms with…everything…but you have to see that this is not an easy situation for any of us to be in…"

"It's definitely 'not an easy situation' when we have been somehow treated as the enemy by the two people who abandoned Emma," Natalie shot back, raising to her feet.

David's shoulders slumped and he saw instant regret pass across the woman's face. He could understand that the words had been said in justified anger, but that didn't make them feel any less like a punch to the gut.

"I…" she quickly tried, but the blond man held up his hand and shook his head with a small sad smile playing across his lips.

"You have every right to say that," he sighed and he saw another flash of regret upon Natalie's face. In that moment, he decided that she was perhaps one of the nicest people he had ever met, he was sure that there were not many who would apologise when they were so clearly in the right, at least from their perspective. "What did Emma tell you about the curse?"

Natalie looked over at her husband, who gave her an encouraging nod. He had honestly been just as confused as she was when she had relayed her conversation with Emma to him. The blonde had obviously missed out some important details, it wasn't as if Natalie had much time to get to the end of the story book she had been given.

"She just told us that you had to go give her up to protect her from the curse…" Natalie replied, deflating slightly. She couldn't imagine any situation in which she would have given up her children, but then again, she had lived a very much magic-free life.

"The original plan was to have Snow go through to this world while she was still pregnant…she would have been able to raise Emma and prepare her for breaking the curse. But Snow went into labour just before the curse was cast, we would have been risking both of their lives by sending them through…"

The room into silence as Natalie and Nathan absorbed this information, the male of the pair furrowed his brow and shook his head, "why couldn't you have all have gone through? Surely every single person could have escaped…the curse…"

"We were led to believe that only one person could have passed through," David said sadly, refusing to make eye contact, "the truth was there was enough magic for two. Snow could have easily gone through with Emma, but Gepetto wanted to send his son through, so he made sure that the Blue Fairy would lie to us…"

"Are you trying to tell me, that boy who brought Emma with him from the woods…was Pinocchio?" Natalie asked, disbelief seeping through every single one of her words.

"He goes by August in this world," the blond replied with a small grin.

The woman ran a hand across her face, she it was painfully obvious that fate had conspired to ensure that Emma wouldn't grow up with her biological parents. Natalie had often shuddered at the thought of the type of life Emma would be living if they hadn't adopted her. She couldn't even imagine how difficult it must have been for two parents-to-be to have to make a choice to send their child to a world that they knew absolutely nothing about.

The small smile dropped from the deputy's face after a second and he said, "other than apologising, I came here to ask you to try and understand. I can see that you have a lot to take in and I'm not just talking about the magic, but please, just at least try to see that we're having a difficult time as well. I may not be as vocal as Snow, but it still hurts to know that my daughter was raised by another family…"

Natalie let out a sigh as she thought about her behaviour back at the Charming's apartment, she could see herself wanting to smack anyone who tried to tell her the best way to look after her children, even if they rationally knew more than she did.

"It may be easier for me to admit that we are all her parents, but Snow just needs…more than half a week to fully process, as I'm sure the both of you do. I'm just asking that we can try and avoid this rivalry for Emma's sake…"

"That is exactly what we came to say to you and your wife," Natalie replied somewhat bitterly.

"I know," David sighed, "but Snow is having a hard time with everything. At this rate, she's going to force Emma to choose, and I won't be able to handle that since I know that she wouldn't choose us…"

Natalie thought back to a time that she'd had the same kind of fear. When Emma had run away, she had selfishly been worried that she would indeed find her 'real parents' and would no longer need the Swans to be a part of her life.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "if Mary Margaret can be civil, me and Nathan would be more than willing to seat down with the two of you and discuss how to best handle this."

The blond smiled gratefully and nodded his agreement, "I'm not sure how long that will take, but I'll see what I can do."

With that, he turned on his heels, feeling a heavy weight fall from his shoulder. He had convinced himself that this would end in a much different way.

Placing his hand on the door knob, he took a deep breath and looked over his shoulder, and said, "thank you…and I'm not just talking about this…"

Nathan and Natalie finally shot the man genuine smiles when the meaning of his words registered.

David returned the smile, before he pulled the door open and slipped out the room. He knew there were no words to truly thank them, but at least that was a start.

 **Reviews would be much appreciated XD and as always I need to thank my beta, QueenApples :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

"Henry said that he's going to show me around and Riley doesn't want to go," Blake sighed as he pushed his little sister towards his older sister.

Emma rolled her eyes at the boy and shook her head, "is that your decision or hers?"

Before the older boy could say anything, Riley piped up and said, "I thought Elsa would be here…"

The sheriff smirked and explained, "she really needed some sleep so I sent her to take a nap at my apartment, are you only here because you wanted to spend more time with her?"

"She is a princess…" the girl mumbled.

Henry and Blake shared an amused expression and the younger of the two said, "you know, Emma is a princess."

Riley furrowed her brow, she knew that she had realised this earlier, but Emma had never really been the princess-type, so she hadn't really given it any more thought.

After a moment, she smiled happily and walked over to her sister, "do you have a tiara?"

Emma sighed and narrowed her eyes at her son who held up his hands in surrender, though he looked incredibly amused.

"Err…" the blonde looked around her for a moment, as if she would find one by some miracle, but she seemed to remember her magical capabilities and she quickly waved her hand to make one appear.

Riley stared for a moment in complete awe, before a smile spread across her face and she went to go and sit next to her older sister.

"Make sure that you're back home in time to do your homework," Emma called as the two brunette boys began walking away.

Henry groaned and Blake laughed at the younger boy as they left the station and the blonde smirked as they went.

Once they were gone, she looked back to Riley and handed her the tiara, "I am technically at work, you know," she said as her sister happily started inspecting it.

The girl looked up and frowned slightly, "it doesn't look like you're doing anything…"

Emma was about to argue, before she realised that solitaire was quite clearly open on her computer and she said rather defensively, "me and Elsa couldn't find anything…I figured that I could take a break while she went and got some sleep…"

Riley nodded excitedly and placed the tiara on her head, "that means that you can tell me what it's like to be a princess…"

The older of the two sighed deeply as she considered the request. Deep down, she had known that she was a princess. It had been something that she had realised during her trip to the Enchanted Forest. Standing in what was supposed to be her nursery, it had crashed down upon her the life that she would have led and it was then that she had decided against telling Snow and Charming about the Swans. She had already known that it would be a difficult subject to broach, but it had been more for the benefit for Natalie and Nathan. She couldn't help the feeling that introducing her two pairs of parents would be more trouble than it would be worth and she was rather disappointed to discover that she had been right. Though, she had to admit that it was rather nice to have her siblings be mature about it, even if her parents couldn't seem to sort out their differences.

"It's…not all that different to what I had going on before…" she admitted.

Riley's shoulders slumped in disappointment and she practically pouted as she asked, "so you've never been to a ball?"

Emma sighed and said, "I have been to one…"

The girl's eyes lit up and she shifted closer to her sister, silently asking her to tell her more.

The older blonde sighed in mock exasperation, before she explained, "me and Killian got sucked into a time portal…"

"Killian?" Riley asked, as if that had been the most confusing part of the sentence.

"Oh…Captain Hook," she corrected herself.

The girl furrowed her brow for a moment as she took this in and asked, "you know Captain Hook?"

"Yeah…we're kind of friends…he did used to think that we could be more, but once he moved on with Tinkerbell, I think that he finally accepted the fact that I'm gay," she chuckled lightly.

"Hook and Tinkerbell?" the girl asked sceptically, "since when do villains get happy endings?"

The blonde frowned for a moment as she wondered how she could possibly explain this, "you like Regina right?"

"Yeah, she's awesome."

"Well, she was the Evil Queen, do you think that she doesn't deserve a happy ending?"

Riley opened her mouth to say no, but she stopped herself when she realised that she had been hoping that Regina would end up with her sister. If Regina didn't get her happy ending, then that would mean that Emma wouldn't either; plus, there was the fact that the mayor didn't seem all that evil.

"I guess…anyway, what happened next?"

Emma smirked slightly at her sister and continued, "we ended up going back in time and I accidentally interrupted Snow and David meeting, so instead of trying to find a way home, we had to make sure that they met. But we also had to find the engagement ring that David had been planning to give to the woman he had been arranged to marry. So I had to go to a ball to try and find it, everyone thought that my name was Princess Leia."

Riley giggled for a few moments, before she asked, "but you've never gotten to actually be a princess, right? I mean…I didn't think that a princess would have to be the sheriff…"

"Well…technically, Snow is the queen and her job is as a school teacher. Storybrooke isn't anything like the Enchanted Forest," the saviour explained, "I personally think that it's better here, even if we don't have chimera."

The younger girl looked confused for a moment, almost as if she couldn't imagine that a fairy tale land could ever be inferior to literally anywhere else, "but…you would have been a rich princess…"

"I also wouldn't have had any form of technology, I never would have had Henry and I never would have gotten to be your sister…"

Riley frowned for a moment and then after a few seconds, her eyes widened and she said, "being a princess wouldn't be worth that…"

"Definitely," Emma laughed.

"It must be pretty cool having Snow White and Prince Charming as parents though…"

"It is definitely…cool, but it took a while to get used to; plus, there was a lot of other stuff to get used to…"

"Why? It all seems really awesome…" Riley replied with a furrowed brow. "You have magic…and you live in a town with Tinkerbell…"

"I guess that it's just not something that I ever expected would happen…I wasn't prepared the night that Henry knocked on my door and I definitely wasn't ready to come to a cursed town…"

"But it seems like everything is good now…you have Henry and Regina…"

A blush formed across Emma's cheeks at her sister's words, but she still nodded, "yeah…"

"It's too bad it was a fake relationship though," the girl mused.

"What do you mean?"

"You looked really happy when the two of you were together," she shrugged.

"Well…she is my best friend…if I didn't enjoy being around her, then she wouldn't be you know…my friend…" the blonde rambled, feeling her blush intensify as she spoke.

"For a best friend, she didn't really have a problem with kissing you…"

Emma swallowed hard at the memory and shook her head, "I asked her to help me out…it's what best friends do…there isn't anything between us like that…"

"You're not a very good liar, Emma," Riley remarked as she leaned her head in her hands.

The blonde opened her mouth to say that she had no idea what she was talking about, but when she looked at her sister's amused expression, she knew that denial would be getting her nowhere.

"I know," she mumbled as she turned back around to look adamantly at her computer.

Riley smiled at the older woman and pulled the tiara from her hair so that she could continue staring at it in awe. She had accomplished the mission that her brother and Henry had sent her on.

She had gotten Emma to admit that she definitely liked Regina back.

* * *

 _"That was so awesome," the thirteen-year-old blonde said excitedly as she and the older blonde walked out of the carnival._

 _"I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself," Ingrid chuckled, walking up next to her before they came to a stop on the edge of the pavement._

 _Emma smiled widely at the woman, but after a moment, she brought her arms around herself and began rocking on the balls of her feet as she said, "wasn't mom supposed to be here like ten minutes ago?"_

 _"I'm sure that she'll be here any minute, she did say that she would be picking you up straight from work."_

 _The younger girl nodded at her mother's best friend and continued to look down the road, hoping to see her mother's car coming up so that she could get out of the bitter cold._

 _After a minute, a thought occurred to her and she smiled as she said, "it's nights like this I wish that I had the power to poof home like Harry Potter. If I was like him, I could be standing here in the cold one minute and home soaking in the tub in the next."_

 _"That would be something, wouldn't it?" Ingrid mused, the pair fell into silence for a moment, and she shot the younger blonde a look as she considered her next move. As she imagined getting everything that she had always wanted, she knew that she couldn't wait any longer and added, "…Emma, do you remember how much fun we had in the arcade last week?_

 _"Of course! It was amazing, how could I forget?" the teen laughed with a quick look over to the woman._

 _"And do you remember how the lights in the game flickered? Right before you won?_

 _"Yeah…weird," Emma said, her brow furrowing as she tried to figure out the other woman's point._

 _"What if it was more than just weird? What if it meant you were on the cusp of a great self-revelation?"_

 _Emma opened her mouth to reply, but all she could think was to ask what the hell she meant. Before she could think of a politer way to ask exactly that, the older blonde saw an oncoming car and muttered:_

 _"I think it's time," with that, she grabbed the future saviour's hand and pulled her into the middle of the road._

 _"What are you doing?!" Emma cried as she desperately tried to get out of the crushing grip._

 _"Stop the car! Use your instincts!"_

 _The younger of the two found that she couldn't get out of the grip and she felt her heart sink into her stomach as she thought that this could be it._

 _At the last second, the car swerved out of the way and violently came to a stop at the curb._

 _Ingrid blinked as she tried to take in the fact that her plan had failed and her grip loosened as she vaguely registered the sound of a car door opening and closing very loudly._

 _Emma looked over, fully expecting some stranger to call them insane, but she blew out a huge breath of relief at the sight of the very familiar person._

 _"What the hell, Ingrid?!" Natalie shouted._

 _The older of the two blondes looked over and cringed, which gave Emma the chance to break out of her grip, instantly running over the other woman._

 _"Mom!" she shouted as she collided with the brunette, instantly being engulfed in a hug, "she's insane," the teen sniffled against her mother's shoulder._

 _Natalie hugged Emma closer to her body and looked up in disbelief at the woman she had believed was her best friend, "what the hell were you thinking?!"_

 _"I was trying to make her realise her true power, something that you have been holding her back from."_

 _The brunette stared at her in disbelief for a moment, before she leaned back so that she could look into her daughter's eyes and asked, "are you okay, sweetheart?"_

 _Emma quickly shook her head, with tears staining her cheeks, she was still quite clearly terrified._

 _"Stay away from my family you maniac," Natalie shouted._

 _The older blonde looked stunned for a moment and she realised that she had effectively just lost the access to Emma that she had spent a long time cultivating._

 _She watched as Natalie pulled her phone out of her pocket and she instantly knew that she was going to inform the police of what she had done. Stumbling backwards, she allowed herself one more look over to her 'future sister' and quickly turned on her heels and ran as fast as she could._

 _Natalie watched her go and for a moment she considered going after her, but Emma hugged her tighter and she knew that she was needed here more right now._

 _It was for this reason that she pocketed her phone and said, "I'll call the police when we get home."_

 _The blonde nodded eagerly and she allowed her mother to place a comforting kiss on her forehead before the both made their way over to the car._

* * *

-The next day-

"I'm surprised that Elsa didn't want to be here for this…" Regina frowned as she and Emma trudged through the forest.

"I didn't mention this to her, I mean…an ice-cream truck in the middle of the forest isn't exactly a good lead, it didn't seem right to give her hope…"

"When Henry suggests something, he is usually right," the brunette countered, "I am rather surprised that the Merry Men were so willing to assist in finding it though…"

"They're not all from the same place, I'm sure that Robin didn't want to look like a dick if he tried to explain why you had broken up. But I doubt that he would tell them about it…"

Regina furrowed her brow as she considered this.

When Emma had called her and asked her to come and help her investigate a lead she couldn't even consider saying 'no'. Following the snow man that had attacked Main Street, many people had noticed that the very popular ice-cream store had been completely abandoned. It was for that reason that Henry had suggested the ice-cream truck would hold some more information.

Now, for the first time in what felt like forever, she was finally with the blonde one-on-one and the pair seemed to have naturally started talking about Robin, as she had wanted to over lunch the day before.

"Why do you think that he wouldn't want to tell them of our break-up?" she asked, as they fell into step with one another, seemingly walking as slowly as possible to their destination.

"He seems like the type to think that you'll just get over it…and it doesn't help that you have the whole 'soulmate' thing going."

"You believe that he's my soulmate?" the brunette sighed, her heart clenching at the idea that the thief could be her last chance of happiness.

"He could have been if he wasn't a dick," the saviour shrugged, "you were eighteen when Tinkerbell used the pixie dust. Things and people change…"

Regina smiled slightly as she the other woman said exactly what she had been hoping was true since she had broken up with Robin.

"So you believe that my soulmate has…?"

"I believe that soulmates are bullshit," Emma answered, "when you told me about the pixie dust thing, I thought it was weird that you said soulmate instead of True Love…the second one sounds better to me…"

"So you don't believe that your parents are soulmates?" she asked, somehow she knew that whatever the blonde's theory was would make her feel better.

"Well…no... if I hadn't fixed the past and they never met, I still believe that they could have found people who they can be happy with. But since they did meet, they discovered that they were meant to be together by working on their relationship. They sacrificed so much to be together, but all Robin did was have the right tattoo…"

"So you believe that True Love involves sacrifice?" Regina asked, feeling her throat constrict as she remembered all she had given up for Emma and Henry when she had altered their memories. Before she had gotten closer to Emma, she would have claimed that she had done that purely to ensure her son's happiness. However, she now knew the truth. She had done it for both them, because their family unit was what she loved the most.

"There has to be something getting in the way of it so that they can test how much they care…otherwise they would never need True Love's Kiss and they would never find out if they're actually True Loves…"

Regina thought this over for a moment, before she said, "wow…that is surprisingly logical…"

"I am the sheriff, Madam Mayor," the blonde laughed, "if I couldn't be logical, I don't think that I would have gotten the job."

"Need I remind you that election was a shame?"

Emma grinned widely at the older woman and allowed a light laugh to escape her lips, before she said, "if you really believed that, you could have held a re-election…"

"That would be far too much effort, I suppose you're adequate enough," Regina shot back.

"And you say that I'm the charming one," the blonde smirked over her shoulder as she walked forward to the clearing they had been heading to.

Regina came and stood next to her and they both instantly saw the truck and she briefly narrowed her eyes at it, mostly because she knew that this meant that her one-on-one time with Emma would end soon.

"Looks like the Merry Men actually gave us some decent information, he obviously didn't tell them," Emma said, before she walked over to the parked vehicle.

The brunette sighed and nodded, before she followed the younger woman over.

Silently, they set about inspecting the outside of the truck for anything suspicious and they both seemed to decide that it was safe at the same time, as they rounded on the side door.

Emma put up her hand to the handle and quickly looked over to Regina for confirmation that it was a good idea and the brunette quickly nodded.

Taking in a deep breath, the blonde wished that this would actually get them closer to getting the ice wall down and then she grasped the handle and pulled the door open.

For a single second, she got a look inside the vehicle, but it was interrupted by a sharp sound and she stumbled back as three shards of ice embedded themselves in her stomach.

Regina watched the scene unfold, apprehension growing with each second, until she watched the ice shoot out of the truck and straight at the saviour. As the blonde stumbled backwards, her hands clutching her stomach, Regina realised that they must have triggered some very thorough defence measures.

"Emma," she breathed as the other woman fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

A second later, Regina fell onto her knees next to the other woman and automatically placed her hand on her paling skin. Looking down, she saw that her top was blood stained and the ice shards had already disappeared, obviously so that the coldness wouldn't interfere with the speed at which their victim would bleed out.

"Emma, say something," she whispered with a shaking hand.

The blonde was silent for a moment and her eyes began to close, as she ground out, "oww…"

The brunette swallowed hard as she tried to think what she should do, she vaguely remembered reading somewhere that pressure slowed down bleeding, so she quickly placed her hands on the wound, earning another pained groan from the other woman.

Desperately, she looked around the clearing, trying to think what she could possibly do, but her frantic thoughts were interrupted when the younger woman managed to say another word:

"Poof."

Regina furrowed her brow as her mind refused to register the meaning of the word for a split second, but it came crashing down on her and she berated herself for forgetting that she had magic.

Closing her eyes, purple smoke bellowed around the two of them and when the woman opened her eyes, they had appeared in the hospital.

Blowing out a breath of relief, she was glad that her shock-ridden mind had still managed to place the blonde onto a gurney.

The appearance of the mayor and injured sheriff did not go unnoticed and a nurse quickly ran over as her colleague paged Whale.

"What happened?" the nurse asked as she took over the role of applying pressure to the wound.

"Three shards of ice were shot at her stomach," Regina replied as she took a step back and allowed the woman to do her work.

The nurse nodded and the other nurse ran over from the nurse's station, "Whale will be done in a few minutes, he asked for her to be set up in a bed."

"You should call her parents," the other nurse said, before they both started pushing the gurney.

Regina watched them go before the went into an 'employees only' area and she waved her hand to rid her hands of the saviour's blood.

Falling heavily onto a chair, she pulled out her phone to do as she asked, but she stared at the device for a moment, before she sighed, knowing that she would have to call all four of her parents.

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed XD**

 **You can thank PerditusFic for finally giving me an idea for this chapter XD**

 **I would love to hear what you thought :D**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine

Natalie could hardly believe it when she received the phone call from the mayor.

She was really beginning to wonder just how often 'the saviour' got hurt in the line duty; she was pretty sure that she had been informed that Emma was hurt or in danger more times in Storybrooke than she had since the day she had adopted the blonde.

Of course, as soon as Regina had told her what had happened, she and her husband had been straight out of the door of their room and rushed as quickly as possible over to the hospital.

When they got there, however, she quickly realised that this had been a mistake when she walked into the waiting room and made eye contact with the blonde and brunette who must have just made it here before them.

Her first instinct was to be pissed when she saw Snow, but then she noticed something. The woman looked just as distraught as she felt. She sat on one of the chairs, staring at the door waiting for a doctor to emerge and tell her exactly what had happened to her daughter.

Before she could put anymore thought to this, she felt Nathan nudge her lightly and she looked over and realised that Regina had stood from her chair to come and tell them more about the situation.

"Is she okay?" was the first thing that the woman could think to blurt out, which caused Snow to look over to her with a furrowed brow for a moment, before he attention snapped back to the door.

"Once Doctor Whale has determined that there is no serious internal damage, I'll be able to heal Emma and she should be completely fine…"

Natalie blew out a breath of relief, actively choosing not to think about how the former Evil Queen had offered to heal her child's wounds with magic and she just nodded gratefully.

"What exactly happened?" she asked as she followed the brunette over to the chairs, noticing that Snow was refusing to look at either her or her husband, but she did shoot Charming a small smile of acknowledgement when he looked over to them.

"We were investigating a lead in the forest, but it had defence mechanisms in place to fight off intruders…" Regina explained, sincerely hoping that talking would help her to take her mind off the thought of how much pain Emma was probably in, assuming she had regained consciousness.

The other woman nodded with her brows knit together and she felt a great deal of relief when Nathan asked the question on both of their minds:

"Does this kind of thing happen often?"

The mayor nodded slowly, instantly feeling bad for just how the Swans' trip had turned out. They had expected to come to Storybrooke to meet their daughter's girlfriend and possibly embarrass her before they made their way back home. But instead, they had discovered that the child they had loved and nurtured had found her 'real parents', who happened to be Snow White and Prince Charming and that their daughter's destiny had been to break the Dark Curse that was cast by the now reformed Evil Queen.

She couldn't have possibly imagined dealing with so many revelations on the day that she had met Emma, it had been enough that Henry had ran away to find his biological parents, she most certainly couldn't have taken the thought of having everything she had ever known being contradicted in a matter of days.

"It's an occupational hazard, I'm afraid," she replied, instantly seeing each of their jaws clench. She could tell that they were each probably formulating ways in which that they could get their child to leave Storybrooke so that they wouldn't have to be worried every moment of the day when they finally got to leave town. However, they both seemed to deflate as they realised that the blonde was a grown woman, who clearly had more responsibilities than either of them could have ever imagined. "But she is extraordinarily resilient," the brunette added, though it did nothing to help with the tension in their shoulders.

As Regina spoke with the mayor, Snow couldn't help but listen as she sat willing Whale to come out and announce that Emma was completely okay.

With each word that Natalie and Nathan spoke, she couldn't help but clench her jaw at the worry seeping through each of the words. It wasn't that she found it annoying that they cared for her child, it was that she was berating herself for not realising just how much they did. They so clearly loved the blonde and she couldn't quite believe that she had allowed herself to be so angry with them. Though, she knew that she wouldn't be saying this out loud straightaway, she could mentally admit that perhaps her husband had been right about them. They had raised the daughter she had been forced to send to some unknown world and now that she knew what could become of children without parents, she knew that she should be thanking them for turning Emma into the amazing woman that she was today.

Looking sideways, she saw that Natalie's attention was glued to Regina as she explained things to them and she let out a barely audible sigh as she resolved to apologise to the woman who had done what she hadn't been allowed to do.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound she had been waiting for and her eyes shot to the man walking through the doors.

Whale blinked a few times as he saw the number of people in the waiting room, but after a second, he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. Once he was confident that he did have it, he said, "the sheriff has no internal injuries and I have cleaned out her wounds and sewed them. She's on some pretty strong pain killers right now, so I would suggest that not all of you go in at once…"

Natalie's eyes instantly snapped over to Snow, expecting the other woman to instantly shoot up to take the offer, but instead, the younger woman said, "Regina should go in to heal her before she wakes up…" the brunette nodded, and then the school teacher turned to Natalie and Nathan and said, "Charming and I can wait until later to see her…."

Regina's eyebrows shot up at her former step-daughter's sudden maturity.

Standing from her chair, she motioned for the dumbfounded Swans to follow her and she looked back over to Snow and asked, "Henry should be home any minute…"

"We'll go and tell him what happened," Charming quickly said.

The mayor nodded and turned to follow the saviour's other parents. Perhaps, the blonde would be able to actually wake up to a less tension filled environment.

* * *

Regina ran her hand across her face as she tried to decipher what was in the file.

When she had gone back to the ice-cream truck, she had expected something that would have been worth what had happened to Emma, which was why she was more than frustrated when she saw that there was nothing but a file.

Rubbing her temples, she looked up when she heard the sound of footsteps and she offered the brunette a small smile as she handed her the to-go cup of coffee.

"Where's Snow?" the mayor asked as Natalie took a seat next to the file where she had laid out what she had found.

"I think that sitting in silence finally got to her…she said that she was going to check on Neal and that someone should call her when Emma wakes up…"

"I suppose silence is better than the dynamic the two of you had just yesterday," Regina said as she brought the coffee up to her lips and allowed herself to savour the taste, before she looked back down to what she had found.

Natalie nodded slowly as she thought about the shift in Snow and she resolved to talk to the other woman about it, but first she knew that they wouldn't be able to be fully civil until they knew that Emma was one hundred percent okay.

Allowing her eyes to shift to the files on the chair, she furrowed her brow and asked, "how do you have the pictures that Emma drew?"

The other woman looked back down to them and asked, "what are you talking about?"

Natalie picked up the picture on the top of the pile and critically inspected it, before she decided that she was completely certain, "Emma showed this to me when she was about seven I think…where is it from?"

"I found it in the truck we were meant to be searching before the ice shards…are you sure?"

"Definitely," she nodded, bringing up her finger, she said, "that's Nathan and me and that's Emma…"

The mayor allowed herself to smile at the sheer adorableness of the childish art, before she furrowed her brow when she noticed there was a fourth person on it, "who's that supposed to be?"

Natalie clenched her jaw as it crashed down on her that her daughter had shown her these pictures before she had given them to a certain person who she tried not to think about too often.

"Ingrid," she said.

"Why do I feel like I should know who that is?"

"She used to be my friend, but she disappeared after trying to pull Emma in front of a car so that she could unlock her full potential…the police could never find her…"

"And she could have come to Storybrooke?"

Natalie nodded and Regina's eyebrows knit together as she looked back down at the pictures that the woman had kept for years and she asked, "what could she be planning?"

"I honestly have no idea."

* * *

-Two hours later-

Emma took a deep breath as consciousness began to seep through her mind.

Letting out a deep groan, she instantly registered just how heavy her muscles were and she fully expected to feel deep and intense pain at any moment, but the longer she waited, she started to realise that perhaps it wasn't coming.

"Ma," she heard someone say excitedly and she was pleasantly surprised to discover that the sound hadn't hurt her head as much as she thought.

Allowing herself to smile, she opened her eyes and turned to look at the brunette sat in the chair next to her bed, "hey Henry."

The boy smiled at her as she sat up with a tiny bit of resistance from her tired muscles, but she still felt no pain even though she distinctly remembered the shards of ice embedding themselves into her gut.

Bringing her hand up to her stomach, where she expected there to be a bandage and she furrowed her brow when she noticed that the only difference from earlier was that someone had changed her top.

"Mom healed you," the teen explained before she could ask.

Blowing out a breath of relief, she asked, "where is everyone?"

"They all wanted to be here, but Riley got really tired so Blake and Nathan took her home, Neal's babysitter is sick, so grandpa went to go and pick him up. And mom, grandma and Natalie went to get food…"

Emma quirked her eyebrow in disbelief and his shoulders slumped:

"Whale told us that you might be a little disorientated and we decoded that it probably wouldn't help if Snow and Natalie were in the room when you woke up…"

The blonde sighed, wishing that she could have woken up to at least one of her four parents, but she was just glad that she had someone there for her and she would never turn down the opportunity to spend time with her son.

Henry tilted his head curiously and he asked, "you wish your mom was here?"

The saviour looked over at him and opened her mouth to deny what he said, but she could see from the look on his face that he completely understood and she just shrugged her shoulders, "I guess…"

"Which mom do you want here?"

Emma swallowed hard at the loaded question.

She was sure that if it were anyone else who had asked, she would have just made some joke and changed the subject, but Henry was the only person who could truly understand her. He knew what it was like to be raised by one person and then to discover that another had given birth to him. Though, she knew that there were bigger issues between him and Regina when he had first discovered that he was adopted, but the fact remained that he had found a way to have a relationship with both of his mothers. She was sure that if Neal had survived, then the boy would have eventually found a way to integrate him into his strange, and yet perfect, family unit.

"I…don't know…who would you want if you got hurt?" she asked, hoping that the boy would be willing to answer her question.

Henry blinked a few times at the question and had the urge to tell her that he would prefer her so that he wouldn't hurt her feelings, but he knew that wasn't what she needed. Plus, she would know that he was lying anyway.

"Honestly?"

Emma nodded, urging him to tell her the truth, to validate what she had been feeling guilty about for a while now.

"Mom," he answered, trying to gauge her reaction and he blew out a breath of relief when he realised that she was actually beginning to smile. "But that's only if I had to choose…if I had to wake up in hospital, I would want both of you. I know that both of you love me the same amount, so if you weren't there when I woke up, I would just assume that you were off tracking down whoever hurt me."

At his words, Emma's smile continued to widen, before her mouth dropped into a frown and she said, "it is a little different though…I can stand being in the same room as your mom…"

"Yeah, now you can," he laughed, "you chain sawed her tree."

The blonde paled at the idea and she asked, "you don't think that Snow has a chain saw, do you?"

"That was different," he chuckled, "I'm sure grandma has no reason to act out like that…"

"I was not acting out," the saviour said rather petulantly, "I was showing her that she can't just trick me into going to jail…"

"Do you see that things could have been worse?" he asked.

Emma sighed and nodded, "I guess a little arguing isn't the worst thing that could have happened…I just wish that I didn't have to feel so guilty when I spend time with them separately…"

"You don't need to feel guilty," the boy assured with a small smile, "you just need to give them time to work through their issues…they're all adults and they'll eventually realise that everyone would be happier if they eventually get along."

"How long will that take?" she sighed, her head falling back against the pillow in resignation.

"Well, it depends…can you somehow get kidnapped by your evil great-grandfather so that they can bond over a rescue mission?"

"You're hilarious," the blonde sighed.

 **A/N I would love to hear what you thought XD**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

"You brought me a bear claw?" Emma laughed.

Regina smiled slightly at just how happy this seemed to make the saviour and she fell into a chair in the sheriff's office.

"Well, even if you didn't experience much pain when you woke up, the fact remains that you were in hospital…"

"And you wanted to cheer me up?" the other woman laughed after she had swallowed a bite of the delicious pastry.

They mayor shrugged, as if showing that she cared was a physically painful thought, but she didn't deny the claim.

"Is that the only reason you came to the station?" Emma asked, placing the bear claw onto her desk, deciding that it would be better to devour it when the mayor wouldn't be there to witness it.

The older woman looked over her shoulder at Elsa, who had left the room to give them some privacy, and she asked, "I went back to the ice-cream truck while you were unconscious and I found something…"

The sheriff nodded, accepting the folder the other woman offered her and she furrowed her brow as she flipped through it. It was all very familiar, but somehow, the reason why was just out of her reach.

"I…don't get it…they look so familiar…" she said, looking up at Regina with a very much confused expression.

"They were familiar to your mother too," Regina replied, though she quickly amended it to, "they were familiar to Natalie…"

The younger woman nodded, though her question hadn't really been answered and she looked back down to the pictures, running her hand over the extra blonde woman on one of them.

"Her name is Ingrid and she was your mother's best friend…she said that you spent a lot of time with her before she pulled you in front of a car for some psychotic test…"

"Well…I'm sure that I would definitely remember that happening…" Emma frowned.

"So you have no idea who this Ingrid woman is?"

The sheriff shook her head, though her eyebrow were knit tightly together, "I feel like I should remember her…but…I just can't…"

"I suppose we need to add altering memories onto her list of abilities," Regina sighed.

The pair fell into silence, before an idea crossed the saviour's mind and a smirk spread across her face, "have you ever had a bear claw before?"

"What do you think the answer to that question is, Miss Swan?" she sighed, though her exasperation was out-weighed by the gleeful expression on the other woman's face. Plus, she could see that she was in need of some distraction from everything that was currently going on. With the new crisis and the issues with her parents, the mayor didn't want to deny her the chance to amuse herself, even if she had to risk eating that disgusting monstrosity.

"Then you haven't lived," Emma chuckled as she leaned forward to pull off a piece from the end that she hadn't been eating.

The former queen looked down in disgust as the saviour held it up to her face with a hopeful expression on her face.

Before she could even consider opening her mouth, her attention was torn away from the somewhat enjoyable moment by the sound of a squeal from outside the sheriff's office.

Turning her head, she swallowed hard when she saw Elsa had been frozen into place, with a white glimmer engulfing her entire body. Once the mayor visually ensured that the woman was physically okay, she turned her attention to the person responsible.

Emma looked over at the same time as her friend, allowing her arm to drop with an air of disappointment.

The newcomer smiled at the sheriff, completely ignoring the fact that there was anyone else in the office other than her.

"Emma," she said almost in awe.

"I'm guessing this is Ingrid…" the saviour murmured as she sprang to her feet, her hand instantly moving to cover her holster.

"I am indeed," she replied as she glided across the room to the two women, "it is very nice to see you again."

"I wish I could say the same," Emma shot back with narrowed eyes, desperately trying to figure out what the woman was planning.

Ingrid frowned for a moment as the younger woman's words cut through her like a knife, but she allowed herself to shake them off and reminded herself that she had to follow through with her plan before the saviour would act like the sister that she truly wanted.

"You will be able to soon," she replied softly, which only seemed to confuse the other two women further.

Regina broke out of her confusion before her friend and she turned her hand over, willing a swirl of heat to appear. When the fireball materialised, she looked over at the Snow Queen warningly, daring her to try something.

When Ingrid stepped forward, Regina instinctively did the same, standing in front of the saviour, "don't take another step," she growled.

The sheriff's eyebrows shot up at just how protective the mayor was being; however, before she could look further into it, the Snow Queen made a swirl of ice appear in her hand and she hurled it at the former queen.

Emma's mouth fell open slightly and it was almost as if everything went into slow motion as she jumped forward and pushed her best friend out of the way of the blast, quickly jumping in the opposite direction a split second later.

The ice hit the wall behind them with incredible force and Emma only just about had time to look at the damage, before her attention shot back to the mayor who seemed to have been frozen in place in the same way that Elsa had been.

"What the he…" she began to say, but she was cut off when the Snow Queen poofed herself in front of her and leaned down to grab her arm.

"I will make you see the truth," Ingrid mumbled almost to herself, before white smoke engulfed both of them.

As soon as they disappeared, Regina and Elsa both regained control of their bodies.

They each stared at the sight where the sheriff had just been stood and after a moment, the mayor closed her eyes in frustration. She had really wished that she could show Natalie that the saviour could go more than one day without something happening to her.

* * *

Natalie took a deep, calming breath, though it did very little to ease her nerves.

She had promised herself that she would do this once Emma was out of hospital and the saviour had been discharged about three hours ago. Since Regina had healed her and the pain-killers had all but forced her to have more rest than she could ever need, she had opted to go back to work despite the insistence of all four of her parents that she should go and sleep more.

Nathan nudged her slightly and offered her a supportive smile, "we don't have to do this right now, you know?"

Natalie considered agreeing wholeheartedly for a moment, but all it took was an image of her daughter to flash across her mind for her know that she had to do this.

"We have to," she sighed as she brought her hand up to the door and knocked as quietly as possible, knowing that waking up Neal would just cause yet another argument.

The two Swans stood anxiously outside of the door for a full two minutes and Nathan motioned for his wife to knock again, but she just quickly shook her head. She certainly didn't want to start this by pissing them off again.

Nathan was about to whisper at her that she had to knock again, but the door opened before he could even open his mouth.

Snow looked between the pair with raised eyebrows. Under any other circumstances, she was sure that she would have smirked at how childish the two grown adults were being.

Instead, she offered them a tight smile and opened the door wider, "David mentioned that you would be coming over…"

"We thought that it would be better if we gave you some warning this time," Natalie replied rather awkwardly as they walked across the threshold. Each of them smiled over to Charming stood behind the kitchen counter as they were led over to the couch.

The deputy sheriff came over to the living room area as the visitors took their seats and he smiled over to his wife. When he had told Snow about this, he had fully expected her to yell at him, saying something along the lines of 'how could you invite them to our home after last time?' He was pleasantly surprised, therefore, when she had just nodded without much comment and suggested that he text them back with a time.

Natalie swallowed hard when the oppressive atmosphere and she looked over to Nathan, hoping that he would know what to say. The man just shook his head minutely, obviously hoping that she would be the one to start the conversation, but after the blow-up of last time, neither of them were very eager to be the first to speak.

Snow bit the inside of her cheek as the silence stretched on.

Finally, she noticed her husband giving her a look that said she should say something and she sighed before saying, "I believe that I may owe you an apology…"

Before Natalie could even think about opening her mouth to tentatively accept, a phone rang out and everyone in the room looked over to the source.

Snow dug the device out of her pocket.

She had every intention of just shutting it off since she doubted that she would be willing to restart this conversation with ease, but when she saw the name on the caller ID, she knew she had to answer. Regina would never willingly call her unless it was deeply important.

"Hello?" she answered, her voice cracking slightly as she wondered what could have possibly happened now.

Natalie and Nathan watched intently as Snow White's face paled at what she was being told and they exchanged a look.

Finally, she thanked the woman on the other end of the line and hung up.

Each person in the room, looked at the school teacher expectantly, until she finally swallowed hard and said, "Emma has been…kidnapped…"

Natalie's mouth fell open as her mind reeled. Her nerves hadn't even gotten over the fact that her child had just been in hospital and now she had been kidnapped. She was really beginning to wish that she could just wrap her oldest child in bubble wrap forever.

Looking around at each person, she couldn't help but notice that everyone in the room was wearing the same expression, the expression of a worried parent. Which meant they could wait until they found their daughter to have this conversation.

 **A/N Sorry this chapter was so short, but my week from work is over and I'm not sure whether I'll be able to write much for the rest of the week so I thought something was better than nothing.**

 **Also, you guys might have noticed that I didn't refer to characters by their hair colour for the whole chapter, someone told me that it was confusing. Let me know if you prefer this way better or if you had no problem with how I've always done it (I find it easier to write when I do it honestly)**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven

-At the station-

"She was your best friend?" Snow asked almost accusingly as she looked down at a screen grab of the stations security footage from earlier that day. However, she didn't stare with narrowed eyes as she probably would have done if Emma had never ended up in hospital, much to the surprise of the others stood in the station. Despite their worry over a certain missing blonde, Regina, David and Nathans all looked slightly dumbfounded by the shift in dynamic between the two women.

"Past tense," Natalie shot back, though it lacked any malice. "She was one of Emma's pre-school teachers and now that I think about it, she made a point of befriending me over the other parents...she completely disappeared after...'the incident'..."

"The incident?" David asked, finally able to move past his shock.

"Ingrid offered to take Emma to a carnival, I offered to drop them off and pick them up after, but when I drove up, I saw her holding Emma in the middle of the rode and I just about swerved out of the way...when I got out of the car to yell at her, she said that she was trying to get Emma to reach her 'full potential'. I thought that she was completely bat shit insane, but I guess she was actually right…"

"She still sounds pretty bat shit insane to me…" Nathan mumbled, before he looked back up at the group and asked, "do we have any idea what she wants with Emma?"

"Well it must have been something that she has been planning for years…she doesn't look old enough to have known Emma since she was in pre-school…" Regina frowned, glancing down to the picture on the table.

Natalie furrowed her brow, seemingly only now noticing the same thing, "how is that possible?! She looks exactly the same as she did the day that she disappeared…"

"Stranger things have happened in Storybrooke," David assured, though it did nothing to help with the tension in both of the Swans' shoulders.

"So do we have a plan?" Snow asked once the silence between the five of them had gotten rather oppressive.

"I tried a tracking spell, but she must have done something to dampen its effects…" the mayor replied, each word laced with worry. Once upon a time, she knew that she wouldn't have wanted anyone to see that she was the slightest bit worried about the saviour, but now things were different. The blonde had welcomed her into a family that she would have never dreamed she could have been a part of and she had even persevered longer with their relationship than anyone had in her life. Since Daniel's death, she didn't think that she would get another chance at having a best friend, but now she had found one in the unlikeliest of people: her enemies' daughter.

Natalie blinked at the other woman's words, before she shook her head and said, "what exactly does that mean?"

"It means that Regina will find another way to find her," Snow replied without missing a beat.

Regina's eyebrows shot up at the faith in the younger woman's voice, before she realised that each person in the room was looking at her expectantly, almost silently begging her to tell them what her great plan to find their daughter was going to be. Bile rose in her throat when it occurred to her that she had nothing else in her arsenal.

Looking over to the sheriff's desk, she swallowed hard when she noticed the unfinished pastry laying on its surface. She bit the inside of her cheek that she could have been pretending that she didn't like the bear claw right now, instead of worrying intensely as she wondered what the insane Snow Queen could be doing to the missing woman.

"I…" she began, hoping that she could come up with something that would give the four other people some kind of hope, as opposed to the despair that she was currently feeling.

Natalie's mouth fell open slightly at the mayor's indecision and much to her own shock, she turned Snow for some kind of reassurance.

The school teacher stared back at her for a moment, before she said, "we will find a way, we always find each other."

* * *

Emma took a deep breath and watched as her breath condensed in front of her.

Her teeth chattered while she attempted to shift into a more comfortable position, but the chains around her wrists tightened at her movement. So she gave up and instead turned her attention to the blonde woman standing in front of the mirror.

She was told that she should know her and she had to admit that she did felt a certain kind of Déjà vu, but it was as if her mind refused to allow any memories to come to the surface. This probably would have freaked her out if she hadn't felt like this before. During her year in New York, she would have moments of intense Déjà vu where her mind would desperately try to remember something. Like the day she had been served in a coffee shop by a woman named Regina. She stared at the woman's name tag blankly for over ten seconds before the person behind her in line had cleared their throat, not-so-subtly telling her to hurry up and order her drink. She had dwelled on the reason one simple name had distracted her so much, but it wasn't until months later that she got her answer, when Hook had gotten her to drink the memory potion and she could no longer tell herself that she had never met a woman named Regina in her life.

It was for this reason that she knew that she must have met Ingrid before, which meant that there was obviously some kind of memory spell in effect. Which begged the question, why would this woman strive to befriend her as a child and then take her memories? What could she possibly want that would take such a convoluted plan to achieve?

After what felt like an eternity, the other blonde finally turned around from the mirror and offered the woman she had kidnapped a strange, and yet very genuine, smile. It was almost as if she believed that she had done the saviour a favour by taking her away.

"The chains wouldn't be necessary if I didn't believe that you attempt to run away, this is the only way that I could have had a conversation with you," she assured, hoping that she could convince the younger woman that she had no reason to be scared, though it didn't seem to help her case, as Emma continued to stare at her with complete and utter contempt.

The younger blonde was of course more than pissed that she had been kidnapped by some strange woman who had stolen her memories for god knows what, but there was something else that was irking her at this very moment. Instead of being in an ice cave with this clearly mentally unstable woman, she could have been back at the station, teasing Regina as she attempted to pretend that she didn't like the bear claw.

"You're insane!" Emma shot back, abandoning her attempts to fight against the chains that were beginning to hurt her wrists. "If you wanted to talk to me, you could have just talked to me at the station."

"But that would have worked, my dear," Ingrid said while she shook her head. "There are too many people who would have tried to tell you that I'm wrong and I simply can't have that. I need this conversation to be private so that no one else can sway you, particularly your mother…"

The sheriff furrowed her brow and was about to ask 'which one', but then she remembered what Regina had told her and said, "you're afraid of Natalie Swan?"

"Afraid is not the right word…" the Snow Queen frowned as she thought of the best way to explain it. Though she had tried to deny it even to herself, it had hurt more than she could have imagined when Natalie had told her to stay away. When she had hatched her plan to get close to the saviour, she didn't think that she would also gain a friend out of the process. But one rash decision and she had lost that friend. She had basically been accepted as part of the Swan family, but she had thrown that away because it wasn't the kind of family that she wanted. During her long, lonely time in cursed Storybrooke, she had regretted it every single day. At the same time, though, she reminded herself that it wasn't the kind of family that she had craved for since the death of her sister. She didn't want to just be someone's aunt, which was precisely the reason that she had left Arendelle instead of staying with Anna and Elsa.

Emma looked at her expectantly, but it soon became clear that the woman was not going to offer any further explanation. Normally, she would have had the urge to push until she found out as much as she possibly could about Storybrooke's newest villain, but she hadn't been wearing a jacket when she had been brought here and she was freezing.

"What do you want from me?" the younger of the two spat.

For a moment, Ingrid looked hurt by the other woman's tone, but she still replied, "I want to offer you the chance to have a family who can truly understand you."

"My family does understand me…" Emma said, though her words lacked confidence. In that moment, it occurred to her that her family had recently grown to include more than just the Swans. She also had Snow, David, Neal, Regina and Henry and if she were completely honest, she could only actually believe that one of them would be able to truly understand her. There was only one other person in her family who knew what it was like to have magic pumping through their veins, having to resist using their full power because they knew that it would frighten other people. She was pretty sure that Regina's signature fireball was not the deadliest spell in the woman's arsenal and she knew for a fact that if she herself put her mind to it, she could probably cause just as much damage, if not more, than the former Evil Queen could.

Ingrid tilted her head, allowing herself to smirk as she said, "you don't seem so sure, Emma."

"I…I am sure," the saviour shot back, almost too quickly, "I have more than enough family…I don't need some insane ass woman to come and tell me that I deserve better."

"Doesn't everyone deserve to have parents who are capable of some degree of civility? If they all truly love you, then why would they put you in the middle of their little war?"

Emma swallowed hard and looked down at the ground. She wanted to be reply that she loved all of their parents and that she was mature enough to give them time to sort out their issues among them, but the fact was that it was still all very difficult. Even if Charming seemed far more accepting of everything, it still hurt that Snow didn't really seem like she wanted to try. And it wasn't as if she'd had much time to spend with the school teacher to try and reassure her about everything. Every time she had thought about spending some time with the Charmings over the past few days, she had felt this intense feeling of guilt in her stomach when she thought about Natalie and Nathan. They had been the ones to raise her, they had worked hard to make sure that she and her siblings always had everything that they needed, so it didn't seem fair to ever choose Snow and David over them.

"I…" she began, wishing that she could try and convince the other woman that the obvious wasn't true. That she craved to have all four of her parents get along so that she didn't have to feel constantly guilty. "They only met a few days ago, they'll get along eventually…"

"And if they don't? Who are you planning to spend the holidays with? If you choose the Swans, would Regina and Henry go with you every year? Could you deal with disappointing Nathan and Natalie if you had to tell them that you were choosing to spend time with your 'real parents' over them?"

"It's…it's not like that…" Emma replied, her eyes widening when she realised that the woman could very well have been right. She had honestly been dreading Thanksgiving and Christmas that year. After the missing year, there was no way that she would be able to get away with telling her parents that she couldn't spend the holidays with them and she certainly couldn't have found an explanation for the Charmings as to why she couldn't stay in Storybrooke. Plus, all of that was assuming that there wouldn't be another villain in town ensuring that she couldn't pass over the line.

"The saviour doesn't belong with the Swan family and Emma Swan doesn't belong with the Charmings. Doesn't it just make more sense for you to find a family of people who can completely understand you? You will never have to feel guilty again. You will be loved and accepted with being pulled in two different directions."

Emma swallowed hard, desperately wishing that the older blonde's words weren't very much truthful, but she couldn't deny it. She knew that she would face these issues, which was why she had been putting off telling Snow and David for so long. After a while, it felt as though she would never tell them, but she knew that this way was much easier, even if it hurt so much to be pulled between two different families. The only time that she had felt at ease this week was when she was with Regina, but both occasions had been cut short because of the insane woman stood before her. But thinking about her crush on Regina was not something that would help her feel better in this moment, so she decided to push it aside and try and get as much information as possible.

"And who exactly would be a part of this new family of mine?"

"You, I and Elsa of course," Ingrid replied.

"Okay…" the saviour said unsurely, she was tempted to ask for a reason, but she also had the feeling that this woman didn't exactly seem as though she dealt in logic. "And chaining me up in an ice cave was supposed to make me agree to this plan?"

"I simply needed to convince you, you may leave as soon as you agree to drink a memory potion."

"Regina will find me before that will happen," the sheriff shot back before she could even think about it.

"I wonder if she will find you before you freeze to death."

* * *

"Shouldn't you be more worried?!" Blake asked, staring at Henry in disbelief after he had rather casually told him and his sister the news about Emma.

The younger brunette raised his eyebrows at the teen, before he replied, "of course I'm worried, but it isn't like freaking out will help her."

"Has something like this happened before?" Riley asked, cutting off her brother before he could make an attempt at a retort.

"You have no idea," Henry sighed, "but my mom and grandparents always fix it. Plus, Emma's the saviour…she can pretty much save herself most of the time."

Blake nodded slowly and ran his hand over his face while he though the other boy's words. Hearing that his sister had been kidnapped was not something that he had ever expected to ever be told and he certainly had no idea how to deal with it. He wanted to go and help her, but with the little matter of him knowing absolutely nothing about magic.

"Is there anything that we can do to help?"

Henry bit his lip as he considered this.

Just like his uncle, he wanted to do something to help, but he had faith in his mother would find her and he didn't want to serve as a distraction to their efforts.

"It would be best if we just stayed out of the way, honestly…but…"

"What?" Blake asked eagerly.

"The solution to most of our issues is True Love's Kiss…so if anything did happen to Emma, it would be best if we could make sure that mom can admit that she loves her so that she can save her…"

The older boy looked at the brunette doubtfully, he wanted to say that True Love couldn't possibly be a thing, but he had a feeling that Henry probably had proof to disprove his claim.

Before he could even attempt a reply though, the three of them had their attention stolen by the sound of the Charming's apartment door opening behind them.

"Elsa?" Henry asked, raising from the couch with a furrowed brow.

The blonde woman closed the door behind her and smiled weakly at the trio, "I was feeling rather useless, so Regina asked me to come here and check on the three of you."

Blake tilted his head, he was tempted to mention the fact that he was technically the one babysitting the other two, but then he noticed an excited expression that had consumed his sister's face.

"Er…sure," the teen said, motioning for her to come further into the room, "maybe you could tell us exactly what happened?"

Elsa nodded as she made her way over to the couch and she sat down tentatively on the arm as she looked between the children that she had been relieved to have been sent to. She had felt nothing but guilt at the fact that she never seemed capable of saving Emma from danger and this time, all she had been able to do was watch as the Snow Queen took her. The saviour had done so much to try and help her find her sister and she had done nothing for her. The least that she could do was watch after her son, even if he really didn't need her to.

"Emma and Regina were talking in Emma's office and I heard Ingrid walk into the station. I stood up and she just froze me in place. When I regained my senses, Emma was already gone and it looked as though Regina had been thrown across the room…"

Henry's eyes widened at the thought, but he knew that he would have been told if his mother had been hurt, so he vowed to quickly ask her later just to make sure that she was physically okay.

Elsa looked at his reaction for a moment, before she continued her explanation, "Regina tried a tracking spell, but it didn't work…I believe that they're working on other options, but they haven't come across anything promising as of yet."

Blake looked over to the other boy in the room, instantly noticing that he didn't look too worried, which caused him to relax ever-so-slightly. Henry was certainly the expert on dealing with crisis, so if he saw no reason to worry, then the teen figured that he could hold off on worrying until he had more reason to.

"So we're just supposed to wait here?" Henry asked after a moment of silence.

Elsa nodded solemnly, expecting some kind of protest from at least one of them, but they were all being surprisingly mature about the situation.

"Your mother promised to...erm…"

"Text me?" Henry supplied, allowing himself to smirk slightly at the look of concentration as she tried to recall the phrase that she hadn't truly understood at the time.

"Yes…she said that she would do that once she has more information to share."

"Okay," the boy replied. Smiling at her reassuringly, "we'll just wait here, so we don't get in anyone's way…"

The other two children nodded in agreement and Elsa seemed to relax further, she had very much been expecting to have to have had spent far more time convincing them further.

"I've never actually had to 'babysit' before, I'm afraid that I don't know what it entails…"

"Well, Riley said that she was hungry before we got the call about Emma…maybe you could make her a sandwich?" Blake asked, sensing that the woman needed something to do so that her guilt didn't consume her.

"I can do that," she said, though her voice lacked confidence.

"Riley can run you through it," Blake assured, motioning for his sister to lead the blonde woman to the kitchen.

As the woman followed the girl, Henry turned to look at Blake expectantly.

Once Elsa was just out of ear shot, the teen explained, "Riley is really good at getting more information out of people. She'll be able to get Elsa to tell us if she knows anything that we could use to convince your mom to admit that she likes my sister.

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed and please let me know what you thought XD**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve

Elsa furrowed her brow in concentration as she spread butter across the first piece of bread and after a moment, she asked, "should I do this to the edge?"

The girl sat on one of the stools on the other side of the counter just nodded and the woman continued to try and complete her task, though the queen was taking far longer than most would. Riley could tell that she probably had never had to make food for herself in her life and she obviously wanted to make sure that she got it right since this was basically the only thing that she had been asked to do.

"It's just a sandwich," Riley said after a moment, "you don't need to be so anxious."

Elsa was about to protest, but the tension in her shoulders suddenly registered in her mind, so instead, she just sighed and allowed them to relax. Finally, she finished buttering the first slice of bread and brought the other one towards her, setting to work on it as Riley watched in amusement.

"I've never been asked to do anything like this before," the blonde admitted, looking down at the counter as she moved the butter knife.

The younger girl nodded and looked over her shoulder to the boys on the couch talking in whispers. No doubt they were discussing their operation and she instantly knew what why her brother had asked Elsa to make her a sandwich.

Turning back to look at the queen as she finished the second piece of bread, she said, "now you just need to put ham on one side and then put them together and cut it in half."

Elsa nodded, furrowing her brow in concentration as she did as she was instructed and after about twenty seconds, she placed it on a plate and handed it over to the girl.

Riley smiled at her, assuring her that she did it right and picked up one of the halves to hand back to her.

The older of the two couldn't help but smile at the motion and brought up the sandwich to her lips, taking a small bite. As she chewed, her smile grew when she realised that it tasted just fine and she took another, bigger, bite.

The pair smiled at each other and it wasn't long before they had both finished their food and Riley couldn't stop herself before she asked, "what's it like to be a princess?"

Elsa tilted her head, though she could feel amusement taking over her worry for Emma, the child's excitement was oddly infectious.

"I'm queen," she replied after a moment, which caused the pre-teen to practically vibrate with excitement.

"So what's that like?"

"Well…I'm not sure how to describe it...it's certainly a lot of responsibility. The whole of Arendelle relies upon me to ensure that they are able to live safe and prosperous lives…"

"But there's good things about it too, right?" Riley insisted, leaning forward as if the motion would get her more information. "You get to order people around and have balls, you get to marry a prince and live happily ever…"

"Well, I have two of those things," Elsa chuckled, "finding a prince has not really been something that I've had any interest in…"

"You could marry a princess…or you could have an epic romance with a peasant…"

The blonde quirked an eyebrow and asked, "do you believe that happens a lot?"

"Well…why not?"

"It certainly happens, but not all romances are epic," she laughed.

"What about Prince Charming and Snow White, Ariel and Prince Eric, Belle and the Beast?"

Elsa looked confused for a moment, Emma had mentioned that everyone in town was part of a story, but the first two were the only people that she recognised, and it wasn't as if she was aware of their love story.

At the blonde's expression, Riley quickly looked over her shoulder at Henry and Blake, who were pretending not to be listening intently to their conversation.

"I suppose that there are many exceptions…"

"Like Regina and my sister?"

Elsa's expression only seemed to grow in confusion, before she said, "I didn't realise that the two of them were together…"

"They're not officially, but don't you think that it seems like they're more than just friends?" the girl asked eagerly.

The queen was about to say that she wasn't really in a position to comment, considering just how long she had actually known Emma and it wasn't as if she had really had the chance to interact with Regina. Before she could say so though, her mind flashed with images of what she had seen just before Ingrid had attacked. She couldn't help but look over to the sheriff's office and notice the saviour holding up a piece of the bear claw to the mayor's face. Even if she didn't know much about the former queen, she did get the impression that she wasn't exactly the type to let another person feed her, especially in public, but she had looked as though she was seriously considering it at the time. They had both looked so happy in that moment, both of them were wearing looks that she hardly thought meant that they were merely friends.

"I…suppose…there are certain signs…" she sighed, now wishing that she had stayed with the others instead of being interrogated about the state of a relationship that she barely knew anything about.

A smile spread across Riley's face at the blonde woman's admission, and she asked, "like what?"

"Emma tried to get the mayor to eat the strange pastry that she brought to her…most royalty who I know of wouldn't even entertain the idea of eating something from another person's hand…unless…"

"They are together?!"

"Or are attracted to one another…" Elsa replied unsurely, wondering whether she should be talking about the romantic life of the saviour and the former Evil Queen with Emma's sister.

"So if they got married, Emma would be queen?" the younger girl almost squealed.

"Well...from what I've heard about the White Kingdom, Regina has lost her claim to the throne, so she is technically no longer royalty as far as I'm aware…"

Riley's smile dropped and the blonde woman instantly felt bad, now that she thought about it, the pre-teen probably wasn't too concerned with royal lineage.

"Marrying Emma would give Regina her claim back…though I somehow doubt that either of them actually care about the monarchy since they have left the Enchanted Forest…"

Riley seemed to completely ignore the second part of the queen's statement and she hopped off the stool.

"Where are you going?" Elsa asked, worry tinging her voice.

"To watch TV while we wait for news," the girl replied without turning around as she walked over to the couch.

Elsa watched her go for a moment, before she furrowed her brow and began following her, "what's TV?"

* * *

"Have you found anything?" Snow asked, which instantly caused her ex-step mother to look over the top of the book and scowl at her.

"I just opened the book, Snow," she replied through gritted teeth.

Snow sighed and looked down at her watch, "it's been an hour, Regina, Emma is going to think that we gave up on her!"

"I don't think she will," Natalie said, before the mayor could open her mouth to tell the school teacher to stop freaking out.

The pixie-haired woman furrowed her brow and turned to look at Emma's other mother. She and Nathan had been oddly silent throughout the wait as Regina did her research.

So far, all they had achieved was failing a tracking spell and sending Ruby to go and hunt for the saviour's location, which was not a plan that any of them had been very optimistic about. It was for that reason that Snow had assumed that they would be freaking out just as much, if not more, than she was, but they looked oddly calm.

Either they were just amazing at hiding their true emotions, or they had complete faith that Regina would find a way to find their daughter.

At Snow's questioning gaze, Natalie said, "you said that you have had a lot of these crisis's, surely Emma knows what it takes to find a solution…and it has only been one hour…"

The school teacher swallowed hard, wishing that the other woman didn't have such a good point, even if she had only been aware of the existence of magic in the world, she seemed to be far more pragmatic about the situation. Now that she'd had it pointed out to her, one hour was comparatively tame when she thought about how long it had taken them to save Henry in Neverland. But Henry had also almost given up on them and had given Peter Pan his heart because he had spent so much time with the demonic boy. Granted, Emma was not an impressionable child, but she hated to think that her daughter was alone; plus, there was the fact that they had no idea what the Snow Queen was planning, so they had no idea what she would be putting the saviour through.

Regina looked between the two women and she briefly wondered whether she would get used to the two of them somewhat getting along. Just the day before, she was sure that Snow would have snapped at Natalie about how she knew nothing about Storybrooke. But instead, the woman seemed to have relaxed ever-so-slightly.

Swallowing hard, she looked back down at the runes that had been carefully drawn on the spell book and she wished that she could relax. But the more she tried to find something that could give her just a little bit of hope, the more worry began to grip at her stomach when she couldn't find a single thing.

It certainly didn't help that they knew almost nothing about Ingrid other than the fact that she had known Emma as a child and had taken her memories. She had wanted Emma to unleash her full potential, but she had no idea what that truly meant. As far as she was aware, there were no ways that one magic user could take power from another, and she hadn't been able to find anything in her research after Natalie had told her the story of Ingrid.

The brunette was brought out of her thoughts of worry when she realised that everyone in the room was looking at her expectantly and she blinked a few times as it hit her that she had completely missed all of the words that they had just exchanged.

Swallowing hard, she asked, "what?"

Natalie furrowed her brow, as she considered just how strained the woman's voice was. She could tell that the mayor cared for her daughter and she somehow doubted that it was just as friends, though this wasn't exactly the best time to start questioning whether Emma and Regina's relationship had been one hundred percent fake.

"Have you made any progress at all?" Charming asked after a few moments of silence.

Regina blew out a breath of frustration and snapped the book shut, "I don't exactly have a lot to go on."

"Well…do you know why the tracking spell didn't work?" the prince asked, with slightly less confidence than he had a mere moment ago.

"If I knew that, Charming," she replied slowly, running her hand over her face in frustration, "I would have found a way to find her."

"And you have no ideas at all?" the deputy asked.

Regina clenched her jaw and seriously considered summoning a fireball, but she had to remind herself that he was Emma's father. The saviour would almost certainly care if she burnt one of her parents, even if two of them were being incredibly annoying.

Before she could put more thought into the ways in which she wished to hurt the Charmings, someone interrupted her thoughts as they answered the prince's question:

"She created a barrier around her lair so that the tracking spell couldn't fine me there."

The former queen's eyes widened and she turned around to find the saviour walking towards the deputy's desk. The mouths of each person in the room fell open at the sight of her, but it wasn't long until Natalie jumped up from her chair to pull the blonde into a tight hug.

Regina furrowed her brow when she noticed that the saviour didn't hug her mother back and that there was a certain tension in her that she had noticed the first time Snow had gotten the courage to hug her.

The woman's four parents, however, didn't seem to notice, as the other three made their way over to the sheriff.

Finally, Regina allowed herself to snap out of her thoughts and she also walked over to the blonde, "what happened?" she asked, trying to keep the suspicion out of her voice.

At the mayor's question, Natalie released her hold on her oldest child and took a step back so that she could look at her questioningly.

Emma shrugged and replied, "Ingrid wanted me to drink a potion and said that she would leave me to freeze to death if I didn't. I guess when I called her bluff, she just let me go because she didn't want me dead. She's probably coming up with some new plan or something."

Regina narrowed her eyes at the blonde, which earned her questioning looks from the others who obviously were not sensing anything wrong in the same way that she was. She wanted to come right out and announce that there was something wrong with her friend, but then, there was always the chance that everything was fine and that not everything had to be as difficult as it usually was.

"What was the potion for?" she asked, while crossing her arms.

Emma tilted her head, seemingly inspecting the other woman for the first time, before she said, "I don't know, she wouldn't tell me."

Snow looked over her shoulder questioningly at Regina, obviously completely confused as to why there was so much tension in the room, before she turned back to Emma and said, "are you okay, sweetheart?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…where's Elsa?"

"With Henry, Blake and Riley," Natalie replied, resisting the urge to put her hand up to the grown woman's forehead to see if she was still cold in at all, but she did look oddly perfectly fine for someone who supposedly nearly froze to death.

The blonde woman frowned for a second, almost as if she was trying to figure out who those names belonged to, but she quickly moved past this as she said, "maybe we should all go for some food? I'm starving…. we should invite Els-them as well…"

David, Snow, Nathan and Natalie all nodded in agreement, all obviously too relieved to notice that there was something off about Emma.

Regina, however, didn't need some ridiculous superpower to know that the woman was lying and she would have to get to the bottom of it before she felt as though Emma Swan had truly been saved.

 **A/N Hope you guys enjoyed XD and don't worry, everything should be explained in the next chapter (which I'll try and have up by the weekend at the latest).**

 **Reviews would be much appreciated :)**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen

-Twenty minutes earlier-

Emma started taking shallow breaths as she tried to figure out just how long she had been trapped in the ice liar. Though she had lost track of time a long time ago, she figured that it couldn't have been that long considering that it didn't really take that long for someone to freeze to death.

With just a relatively thin t-shirt, jeans and boots, the cold hadn't taken too long to begin feeling as though it was infecting her every muscle. She had absolutely no doubt that her family would find her eventually, but she didn't think that they knew about just how close she was to freezing to death.

To make matters worse, it wasn't as if she could bring her chained arms down to try and curl into herself for the illusion of heat.

Weakly, she looked over at the Snow Queen who hadn't said a word to her since their last conversation. The older blonde obviously knew just how painful the freezing conditions would eventually become for the saviour, so all she had to do was wait.

"Have you made your decision, Emma?" she asked with a smile creeping across her face. She could practically see the other woman's resistance falling away the longer she spent in here. Frostbite and hypothermia were not promising prospects and the potion was clearly better than a slow painful death.

"Exactly what will this memory potion do to me?" Emma asked through gritted teeth, she could hardly believe that she was even considering this, but it hardly seemed as though she had any other options at this point.

"It will give you memories of the life that you should have lived," Ingrid replied.

The saviour swallowed hard. She could tell that this woman was so far passed sanity that there would be no point in trying to get her to explain further since it would probably not make sense.

When the younger blonde made no attempt to reply, Ingrid added, "and it will ensure that you get to live."

Emma let out a breath and waited about five seconds, wishing desperately that someone would appear right now to save her from this maniac.

Finally, though, she looked back up at her with narrowed eyes and said, "fine, just get me out of here."

The older blonde grinned widely. She honestly hadn't expected the saviour to last as long as she did. It was obvious that she was in a lot of pain and that she was very aware of the fact that she needed to get out of here soon. Even the most resilient of people had to be realistic about their chances of survival.

Ingrid waved her hands to make a phial appear which she instantly took the stopper off.

Emma took a deep breath as the older woman came forward, holding the potion to her lips. She waited a further few seconds, hoping that it would give the heroes a chance to launch their rescue, but she knew that she couldn't wait any longer. She needed to get out of this lair, and this was the only way that she would get out in time to not freeze.

So, she allowed the older woman to tilt the phial, which caused the potion to burn down her throat.

Closing her eyes, she couldn't stop her mind from instantly imagining an image of her, Regina and Henry, sitting around the mayor's dining table enjoying one of the brunette's homemade meals. Henry was telling them excitably about what he had learnt in school that day, especially in English. A single tear fell down her cheek as the images began to fade and before they completely disappeared, she told herself that her family would find a way to save her from this.

When the blonde opened her eyes though, the chains around her wrists had already disappeared and her clothes had been changed so that she was wearing something much warmer. She couldn't remember the situation ever having been different.

Furrowing her brow, she looked around the lair, before she looked up at the older blonde with a questioning look.

"Are you okay?" Ingrid asked, having already pocketed the empty phial.

Emma opened her mouth to answer before she realised that she had no idea what the answer to her question was and she allowed herself to be lifted up to her feet.

"I…don't know…" she replied unsurely, looking around confusedly. After a moment, she asked, "what happened, Ingrid?"

"I managed to save you from a lie that you and Elsa had been caught in. The 'heroes' of this town have convinced both of you of things that are not true using magical means. If we have any hope of bringing Elsa back to us, you'll need to embrace the illusions that they have created."

The sheriff nodded slowly, wondering why her mind felt so fuzzy, and she asked, "and how do we do that?"

"If you return to them and pretend that you are who they believe you to be, you can convince Elsa to drink the same potion that I gave you to return your true memories."

* * *

-Present time-

Regina narrowed her eyes at the blonde across the table whose attention seemed to stick to Elsa sat on the other table with Riley, Blake and Henry. If she hadn't been so suspicious, then it would have occurred that she had never thought that she would have enough family members to fill one table, let alone two. But as it was, she was fair too focused on trying to figure out just what was off about Emma.

In the station, she saw no recognition in the woman's eyes for a single person. The blonde had adorned a completely blank expression as her parents had hugged her.

The mayor was brought out of her thoughts when the waitress placed a plate of food in front of each person and she furrowed her brow when Emma looked distastefully at the grilled cheese she had been presented with.

At this, Snow also shot Emma a questioning look, which the woman made no attempt to respond to, and the brunette turned her questioning gaze to the former Evil Queen instead.

Silently, the pair seemed to decide that something was going on, and Snow asked, "are you okay, sweetheart?"

For a moment, the saviour didn't respond to the term of endearment, until she realised that everyone at the table was looking at her and she internally berated herself for acting suspiciously.

"I guess I'm not hungry…" she said, attempting a smile, which fell away when she noticed that

everyone looked even more worried than they had a moment again.

"You're…not hungry?" Natalie asked, suddenly noticing that there was something odd in the tone of her daughter's voice.

Emma shrugged, stopping herself from sighing, as she brought her hands into her jacket pocket, allowing her hand to come around the phial of liquid she had been waiting to give to Elsa. She had planned to put it into her drink, but the other blonde had decided to sit on the other table and had completely ruined her plan. Now, she was very anxious to find a way to get the woman alone so that she could free her of whatever these people had done to alter her memory. But she was finding it very difficult to keep up a façade when she knew next to nothing about the people she was having a meal with.

Natalie looked over to Nathan, who looked just as worried as she felt. She swallowed hard as she tried to think of all of the possibilities of what could be wrong with Emma, but it occurred to her that she didn't exactly understand the amount of damage that magic could do to a person, so she had no idea what could be wrong with her child, or, more importantly, how to help her.

Before she could open her mouth in an attempt to try and get more information on what could possibly be wrong, she was interrupted by the presence of a brunette boy coming over to their table.

"Hey, ma…" Henry began, having noticed her looking at the grilled cheese from his table. He couldn't help but think that there was something wrong with the woman. Everything about her just seemed different since she had come back and there was the fact that it wasn't usually the case that kidnappers in Storybrooke just allowed the person they had taken to go free.

For five seconds, each person waited with bated breath for the blonde woman to turn her attention to her son, but she just continued to inspect the grilled cheese in front of her.

Henry furrowed his brow and tried again, "ma?"

Finally, the saviour looked up confusedly and Regina took a deep breath before she waved her hand, allowing purple smoke to engulf the sheriff and when it cleared, her seat was empty.

For a few moments, the entire diner fell into silence was everyone stared over in shock and the mayor shot a warning look over her shoulder causing everyone to look back down to their tables, everyone, that was, except the Charmings and Swans sat around her.

"What the hell?!" Blake asked from the booth behind the former queen.

Regina just shook her head and said, "you can't tell me that you didn't notice something was wrong with your sister."

Blake was about to say no, before he thought about it for a second and replied, "where did you send her?"

"To the holding cell," she replied, standing from the booth, "and I believe we should go to the station and discover exactly what the Snow Queen has done to Emma."

S

Emma ran her hand across the last bar of the cell and let out a growl of frustration, she had honestly thought that her magic would get her out of here. Of course, if she had her true memories in that moment, she would know that she would have known that the cell had been enchanted by the fairies to dampen magic after the Zelena crisis.

Her eyes trained onto the deputy's desk, where there was a pile of the contents of her pockets, and she instantly zoned in on the potion.

It was for this reason that she sighed heavily and took a step back to plop down onto the cot. Leaning her head onto her hand, she looked around the station and briefly wondered whether it was really professional to leave the town station completely empty. Everything would have gone to plan if she had just been able to get Elsa alone and hand her a drink that she had poured the potion into. Her plan hadn't accounted for the how many 'family members' she had and there was no way that she could have fooled them into believing that she was how she wanted them to be with the very little information that Ingrid had given her about them.

The woman was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of many footsteps and she wondered whether the Swan-Mills-Charming family had purposefully walked here so that they could work out whatever they were about to do. She had no idea why they would have wanted to alter her memories, but she knew that she needed to make sure that she kept what she believed to be her true past. Though, there was a part of her that was thinking that none of this really made sense. Why would these people want to make her a part of their family? At the diner, it seemed as though they really cared about her, so it was fair to say that she was rather confused.

"What the hell?" she asked, still desperately trying to keep up the façade that she was pretty sure was already broken. "Why would you do that…Regina?"

As the mayor approached the holding cell, she quirked an eyebrow at the hesitation in her voice. Obviously, she was trying to figure out what she would normally call her.

Picking up the phial of potion, the former queen inspected it while receiving nervous and curious looks from everyone else in the room. The Swans looked more confused than anything, they obviously had no idea what could be wrong with their daughter and were far from as used to this kind of occurrence.

"What did Ingrid do to you?" Regina asked, after deciding that she couldn't tell what the potion did by simply looking at it.

Emma rose from the cot to place her arms through the bars, much like she had the very first time she had been placed in the cell, and she replied, "I already told you, she let me go because it was all empty threats. She didn't want me to freeze to death and I refused to drink the potion."

"No one would blame you if you did drink it, sweetheart," Snow said softly, "there aren't many people can withstand freezing temperatures…I'm sure any one of us would have done anything to get away…"

The blonde inspected the brunette woman for a moment and briefly wondered how someone who appeared to be so moronic could possibly have altered her memories, but then she looked behind her where Elsa was standing and resolved to try and be convincing.

"I am the saviour," she shot back while trying to adorn as charming an expression as possible.

Natalie's eyebrows shot and she looked over to Regina questioningly. The mayor simply shook her head and narrowed her eyes at the woman in the cell, "Emma would never say that so casually."

"Are you seriously suggesting that I'm not Emma?" the sheriff asked almost daringly, "if the Snow Queen had cast some kind of glamour, then this cell would have destroyed it."

"Emma would say that either."

The blonde audibly huffed and narrowed her eyes at the brunette before she asked, "what can I do to prove to you that there's nothing wrong with me?"

Regina tilted her head and thought for a moment, before she pointed at the woman's wrist and said, "who did that shoelace belong to?"

Emma furrowed her brow and brought up her arm to look at the thing that she hadn't really known was there until now. Swallowing hard, she looked around the room for a clue, but she found nothing.

"I have just suffered hypothermia…" she tried, which no one seemed to buy in the least, though the Swan family all had their eyes trained curiously on the shoe lace.

"I wasn't aware that hypothermia causes one to completely forget a fallen friend," Regina said accusingly, "you cannot possibly tell me that you are fine whilst also claiming to have no idea that you've been wearing that for years in honour of Graham."

Emma resisted the urge to close her eyes in frustration and said, "I…don't see how that proves anything…my mind may be a little foggy, but that doesn't mean that Ingrid force me to drink a potion…"

"What's your middle name?" Natalie asked before anyone else could even think about opening their mouths to claim that the blonde made absolutely no sense.

The saviour looked over to the woman with a somewhat shocked expression, as did Snow and David and she asked, "what?"

"Even if your mind is 'foggy', that would be no excuse for not knowing your middle name.

"Wouldn't Ingrid have known it?" Regina quickly interjected.

Nathan looked at his wife questioningly for a moment, since he'd had the same thought, but as he worked through his memories, his eyebrows shot up and he shook his head, "it never came up…. right?"

Natalie nodded her confirmation and said, "I may have thought that she was my best friend at the time, but she never really cared to deeply about personal information. Looking back, she didn't care as long as she got to spend time with 'Emma Swan'."

Emma watched the exchange for a moment, desperately trying to figure out what they were talking about. But she was also trying to figure out what her middle name could possibly be, but she had absolutely no idea.

"So what is it?" Regina asked, turning her attention back to the woman in the cell.

The blonde took a deep breath and decided that a stab in the dark couldn't hurt, "…Natalie?"

"That's my middle name," Riley squeaked from her position next to Blake, who quickly put an arm around the clearly frightened girl.

Natalie sighed as it was confirmed that there was something wrong with her eldest child and said, "your name is Emma Eva Swan."

Snow let out a little squeak at the name and Natalie turned to look at the utterly shocked woman, "it was my mother's name," Emma's adoptive mother said by way of explanation, though it did nothing to alleviate the younger woman's shock.

Regina raised her eyebrows in shock for a moment. She knew that it was obviously just pure coincidence that Emma's maternal grandmother and adoptive grandmother shared a name and it certainly wasn't the thing that they should have been addressing in that moment, but it was certainly amazing nonetheless. And it could be an amazing thing that Snow and Natalie could talk about after they had a plan to deal with the current crisis.

"Is this what you drank?" Regina asked, holding up the phial.

Emma clenched her jaw, knowing that there was no way that she could get away with pretending to remember the same past that they wanted her to. It was for that reason that she huffed and clamped her mouth shut before falling back onto the cot.

The mayor brought a finger up to her temple and rubbed it, before she turned to the others in the room and said, "I'll go and find out as much about it as possible…the rest of you should stay here just in case Ingrid returns…"

"Are you going to go to see Gold?" David asked, instantly feeling nervous about the prospect of the Dark One being unwilling to help.

Regina sighed when she realised just what he was worried about and turned to Henry, "it would probably save a lot of time if come with me."

The boy nodded and silently followed his mother towards the exit.

Natalie furrowed her brow, not quite understanding just what the plan was and looked over at Snow.

"Mr Gold will probably know how to help, but he usually does so for a price, except with Henry…"

"Why?" Nathan asked.

"He is Henry's grandfather…" Snow replied.

Natalie and Nathan looked over at Emma at the same time, both wondering whether she knew that she'd had a love affair with someone from the Enchanted Forest when it happened, The blonde was lying on the cot, adamantly staring at the ceiling, refusing to engage with the people outside of the cell.

"I think we might need a detailed family tree…" she sighed, falling into the nearest chair.

Snow shook her head and replied, "there isn't enough time in the world."

 **A/N Reviews are a great motivator ;) lol**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen

The station remained in complete silence as Natalie and Snow each stared at the blonde in the cell, who was still refusing to make eye contact.

It had been decided that it made no sense for the two people that the Snow Queen wanted to remain in the same room, so David had taken Elsa back to the Charming's apartment. Nathan had insisted that Riley and Blake should also go and so had gone with them, leaving only the two mothers in the station to watch over the saviour.

So far, the wait had been completely uneventful and the silence was becoming very much oppressive as it occurred to both women that they had never actually been left alone ever, let alone for about fifteen minutes.

With another quick glance over to Emma, Natalie couldn't take it anymore since something had been weighing on her mind. She knew that it probably wasn't that important, but she was having a difficult time understanding what was going on with her daughter right now, so her mind had apparently decided to think about this instead.

"Could I ask you something?" she asked after a brief hesitation.

Snow looked over to the older woman, seemingly shocked that there was suddenly a sound to cut through the tension, and she said, "of course…."

Natalie nodded and quickly looked over to Emma, who she could tell was trying to hide the fact that she was interested in their conversation and she asked, "why did you react the way you did when I said Emma's full name?"

The school teacher thought about this for a moment. She knew that if she were to answer this question the day before, she would probably be far more hostile about it, since she thought that this would be the last woman she would ever tell about what she would have done if she'd had the opportunity to keep her daughter. However, she could now feel that things were different. She could tell from the tension that they would probably never be best friends, and she was okay with that, but if they could get along, then it meant that the child they shared could be happy. She often thought just how amazing it was that the saviour and the Evil Queen had managed to put aside their differences and actually become Henry's parents. But now that she was in a similar situation, she could see why it was probably much easier than it appeared to be. Because both women would do anything to make their son happy and once they figured that out, it probably wasn't that difficult to become friends.

"Eva was my mother's name…middle names were not really a thing in the Enchanted Forest, but if they had been…I'm sure that I would have chosen my mother's name."

Natalie looked surprised for a second, before she smiled slightly and said, "I suppose we have more in common than just Emma."

When she finished her sentence, she looked over to the blonde, who wasn't even pretending to hide her interest in the conversation anymore. She was finally looking straight at them and she looked very much confused. Obviously, the way that they were talking didn't match up with whatever she had been told by Ingrid after she'd had her memories changed.

Natalie was having a hard time imagining that whatever Ingrid had made her believe, that it could possibly make sense, considering what she knew about the mentally unstable woman.

It didn't seem as though it would make sense that a random family would have sought out to change her memories for no clear reason.

In that moment, that was exactly what Emma was thinking. There was no logical reason for any of this, and it didn't really help that the memories that she did have felt rather fuzzy. It felt as though she didn't have enough to fill a whole lifetime and it definitely was more than strange that she could only remember knowing Elsa and Ingrid.

She tried to covertly bring her wrist up to look at and she inspected the shoe lace for a moment. Why would she have something so sentimental and yet have absolutely nothing from the life that she had supposedly actually lived. She had no idea how long she had been living her life with these people 'pretending' to be her family. Overall, it was all very suspicious and she was having a hard time believing that Ingrid was the better option after seeing how much this family cared for her.

After a few seconds of this contemplation, she realised that there was a pair of eyes upon her and she looked up at Snow and Natalie, feeling as if she had been caught doing something bad. As a feeling of guilt exploded in her stomach, she furrowed her brow. She instantly identified the feeling of being told off by a parental figure.

Snow and Natalie continued to stare at her curiously for a few more moments, obviously trying to figure out what her expression meant, but the blonde quickly fell back against the cot and pretended as if she hadn't moved.

Natalie looked over to the other brunette woman and silently asked what that meant, but Snow just shrugged her shoulders. Emma was clearly having some doubts, which could only be good for them. The more she was doubting Ingrid, the easier it would be for them to get back the Emma that they knew and loved.

"Do you ever get used to this?" Natalie asked after about thirty seconds of silence, while allowing her eyes to linger on her daughter for a few more seconds, hoping for some kind of reaction and receiving absolutely nothing other than her crossing her arms over her chest.

Snow smiled sadly at the older woman, knowing instantly what she was talking about.

"I suppose I have far more experience with magical crises so I'm for more used to that aspect of it…but you won't ever get used to the idea of your child being in danger. Eventually you'll learn not to freak out completely when something happens, but you just know that you won't feel better until everything is back to normal…"

"But why would you stay in a place where people's lives are always in danger? Wouldn't it be better to move to New York or something?" Natalie sighed, though she had a feeling that she knew the answer, she couldn't help but hope that the other woman would agree to move as soon as the ice wall was down.

"There are many people in Storybrooke who would never leave and we could never just abandon them to deal with danger. Plus, I have a feeling that Emma and Regina wouldn't really want to give up their magic…Storybrooke is the only place in this realm where the people here can be who they really are. I wouldn't be able to ever talk to anyone in New York about my life as Snow White…"

Natalie sighed again, but she still nodded, "I get that, but is it really all worth it knowing that something could go wrong at any moment?"

"Anything could go wrong in any other place in the world. The only difference is, in Storybrooke, we have heroes who are capable of almost anything, I find it comforting knowing that the sheriff can poof herself anywhere that needs her, it certainly beats the response times of other cities," Snow laughed lightly, which actually caused a small grin to tug at the corner of Natalie's lips.

It occurred to her that if they were truly incapable of protecting people in this town, then her daughter no doubt could have been dead by now. But instead, it seemed as though she had gotten the chance to live through some epic adventures and when she imagined her child being fearless in the face of so many dangers, she couldn't help but feel a burst of pride course through her system.

"We're in the worst part of the crisis right now, but you'll see that the people of this town would do anything to protect it, which includes making sure that their saviour is saved," Snow added and after a moment of hesitation, she leaned forward and placed her hand over Natalie's and tentatively squeezed it.

Natalie furrowed her brow for a moment, considering just how rapidly their relationship had changed, but she couldn't deny that this woman cared for Emma just as much as she did. Even if she knew that it would bother her for a while longer, she couldn't really see Emma having two more people who wanted to love her and protect her as a bad thing.

It was for this reason that she simply smiled gratefully back at her and hoped that everything she had said was true.

* * *

Gold closed his eyes in frustration as the bell over the door rang out. It had been quite some time since he had been accused of anything and he had to admit that he was actually enjoying the peace and quiet. Which was the reason that he had actively decided to stay out of whatever was happening in town for the express purpose of not becoming involved.

Of course, in a small town like Storybrooke, it was difficult to not find out that the sheriff/saviour had been kidnapped by an insane Snow Queen and he knew that it was only a matter of time before the cocoon of serenity he had built with his wife would come burning down.

Looking up from the counter, he scowled at the two brunettes, though considering that one of them was his grandson, the scowl lacked its usual venom.

"I knew someone would be interrupting me soon, after that display in the diner, I'm surprised that it took so long."

Henry furrowed his brow as he walked up to the counter with his mother and thought back for a moment, "you were at the diner?"

"The Dark One does have to eat," he replied, making a point of dramatically closing the ledger he had been working on. "So why is it that you sent the sheriff away from the nice little family meal? The townspeople have many theories, but I'm sure none of them are true."

Regina narrowed her eyes at the man and for a moment she wondered what people must have thought, but she quickly decided that she didn't care and said, "Ingrid has done something to alter Emma's memories and I assumed that you would have something that could bring her back to normal."

Gold sighed as he thought of many ways to reject the request, but with Henry standing there, he knew that he couldn't. Which was exactly why the mayor had brought him with her. It was now common knowledge that there were two people that he would do anything for with no strings attached and it certainly didn't help that they were both deeply involved with the group of people most likely to ask something of him.

The man took another deep, calming breath and asked, "do you know what type of memory spell she would have used?"

Regina narrowed her eyes at him. She had heard that he was trying to be a better man, which for him just seemed to involved staying out of things, she never thought that she would have seen the say when he agreed to do something with no biting remark.

Cautiously, she reached into her pocket and brought out the potion phial, placing it onto the counter.

"This is the potion that she gave her to give to Elsa, I assume that she would have given the same one to Emma since I think that she wants them to have the same memories."

"There's a lot of assumptions in that statement, your majesty," Gold mumbled as he brought up the phial up to his face to inspect further.

Henry looked up to his mother questioningly, obviously he had also noticed that the man was acting strangely, but she just shook her head, telling him that they should just leave him to his personal version of redemption. She knew that it would take far more than helping in one crisis to redeem him of all he had done throughout his immortal life, but as long as he gave her something to bring Emma back quickly, she honestly didn't care. They could worry about trusting him later.

Gold brought the stopper off the potion and sniffed it briefly before he brought it away from his face with a grimace, "it appears that whoever made this has only a very basic understanding of magic…"

Regina frowned and thought back to her encounter of the woman, "she does very much specialise in elemental magic…."

"And she obviously had no one to teach her more than what she was naturally capable of. This spell should be easily reversed," he replied, waving his hand over the potion, which caused it to turn blue. "A simple reversal spell will cure the effects of this potion, assuming that Miss Swan drank the exact same potion…"

Regina nodded slowly and reached forward to take the potion from him. She had thought the same thing when she had inspected it, but she had been sure that things simply couldn't be that easy. But then, she supposed that not every crisis could be quite as dire as the ones they had faced in the past. Plus, she was pretty sure that the Swans wouldn't be able to deal with someone like Pan or Zelelna, in a way, they were quite lucky to have been eased into life in Storybrooke.

Gold hesitated slightly before he handed her the potion, against all of his instincts, but when it was finally in her hand, he let out a small breath of relief.

"Are you sure that this will work?" Regina asked, looking at him almost accusingly.

Rumple rolled his eyes and replied, "if it would make you believe me, we could make a deal, though I can't imagine that there's anything that you have that I need or want."

The mayor allowed her eyes to roam over him, looking for any signs of deceit, but he was fairly certain that he was telling the truth. Apparently a happy Dark One meant that things in town would be much smoother, as long as he didn't go back to his old ways. For now, it seemed that he had no hunger for power, no evil plans, he just simply wanted to be with his wife. She knew that it would take some time for the town to believe him, but she could actually understand. When she got Henry, there was no longer any reason for her to thirst for anything other than being able to be his mother. Emma's appearance in town had threatened that and caused her to slip back to who she once was. But there was nothing currently threatening Rumple's relationship with Belle and he had managed to sustain some kind of relationship with Henry. Overall, it seemed as though he was making good on his promise to his son to be a better man.

"If this doesn't work, we will be back," she assured.

"Another reason why there would be no sense in lying," he retorted.

Regina rolled her eyes and turned on her heels to leave.

Henry was about to do the same but her quickly looked over his shoulder and offered him a smile that reminded him so much of Bae, "thanks gramps," he said quickly, before he followed his mother to the door.

The bell over the door rang out as they left and Rumple allowed himself to smile.

* * *

Emma adamantly refused to turn her head, no matter how much she wanted to.

The two women were laughing lightly as they discussed things that she apparently did when she was younger. So far, she had learnt that she used to carry a stuffed elephant everywhere and had cried when someone had stolen it, Nathan had then chased the person down and taken it back by force. She also apparently went through a phase where she had black hair and she had looked ridiculous for years because Natalie wouldn't allow her to dye the roots because she wasn't allowed to change her hair colour in the first place.

Finally, Emma couldn't take it anymore and she covertly looked over to the two women. The younger of the pair had a look of amusement on her face, though it also seemed to be mixed with something else, something like regret. The blonde knew that she was supposedly her 'birth mother' whilst the Swans were meant to be her 'adoptive family', which was another thing that didn't make sense to her.

To her, the Swans seemed to be completely normal people who were shocked by the mere mention of magic. How could they have possibly benefitted from forcing her to be their daughter. Running a hand over her face, she blew out a breath of frustration. She was sure that if she'd just had the opportunity to give Elsa the potion as she had planned, then she wouldn't have had a chance to have all of these doubts. But it seemed as though every single person in the family instantly noticing that she was acting strangely; honestly, she wasn't convinced that there was any way that she could have gotten away with her lie.

"The principle had to send her home because she Alex for pulling her hair," Natalie continued, completely aware of Emma's interest, "he tried to convince us that she had to apologise, so ne and Nathan argued with him until he finally got the boy to apologise to her."

"James," Emma interrupted without thinking.

Natalie and Snow both snapped their attention to her and the older of the pair asked, "what?"

"The boy's name was James, not Alex, Alex was the weird kid that used to hide behind doors during recess," Emma replied, and after a moment, her eyes widened as she realised what she had just said.

"You're remembering?" Snow asked, unable to keep the glee out of her voice.

The blonde shook her head and opened her mouth to reject her claim, though she found that she couldn't. Somehow, that piece of information felt truer than anything else in her mind and it was rather disconcerting that he couldn't even recall the memory associated with it.

"I…" she began, trying to think of a way to deny their words, but she couldn't think of a single thing to say.

"How is that possible?" Natalie asked with her mouth agape as she cautiously rose from her chair.

"Because it appears that Ingrid is rather inept at alchemy, considering the low quality of this concoction, I am surprised that it was capable of changing any memories at all," Regina answered by way of announcing her entrance to the room.

Emma rose from the cot at the sight the two brunettes and placed both of her hands on the bars of the cell. She wanted to say something to deny the woman's words, but she found that there was nothing she could say. Increasingly nothing was making sense and it was more than frustrating, but more than anything, she just wanted to know the truth. She wanted this strange feeling in her mind to go away and she got the distinct impression that would never happen if she did find a way to return to Ingrid.

Regina looked up to her and instantly noticed the look on her face that was no longer as guarded as it had been the last time she had seen her. She didn't know what her two mothers had done, but she had no doubt that they had at least managed to intrigue her about the real version of history.

The brunette motioned for Henry to stay with his grandmother and walked over to the cell.

Standing closer than anyone else had dared to do so, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the potion Gold had given her.

Emma swallowed hard when she recognised the phial, she knew that it was the same potion, but the colour clearly revealed that something had been done to it.

"This will reverse the effects of the last thing you drank. You will get all of your real memories back," Regina explained slowly, watching for any sign that the younger woman didn't want it, but judging by the way that she stepped forward slightly, she definitely did.

"And why should I trust you?" Emma asked apprehensively, though her resistance was quickly waning.

Regina tilted her head and waved her hand, a moment later, the door to the cell opened.

The brunette looked over her shoulder at the sound of sounds of protest, but she just ignored them and looked back to the dumbfounded blonde.

"You should trust me because I know you, Emma. I know that you can just poof away to Ingrid, but I also know that you won't. Even if you can't remember, you know that you care about your family and you know that your family is not some psychotic Snow Queen."

Emma stared at the phial for a few moments and then over to Natalie, Snow and Henry who were all looking at her hopefully. Those were not the expressions of people who tricked her into life she didn't want, they were people who wanted her to be happy and somehow she knew that she couldn't be happy without them in her life.

Looking back to the woman on the other side of the bars, she slowly stepped towards the open door and then took another step so that she was standing in front of the mayor.

The two of them looked at each other for a moment and Emma tried to convince herself that she shouldn't trust this woman in the slightest. She knew absolutely nothing about her, other than the fact that she had been the one to put her in this cell in the first place. But then it occurred to her that if Ingrid was in fact a liar, that meant that Regina Mills obviously knew her best. She knew that she needed to be detained while her mental state was altered. Plus, there was the inexplicable fact that those deep chocolate eyes brought her nothing but comfort, somehow she just knew that she should trust her.

Swallowing hard, she quickly grabbed the phial before she changed her mind and took the stopper off. For a brief second, everyone watched with bated breath as she simply stared at the liquid, but then she just decided that even if it was a lie, it would be the better option and she downed the potion in one.

The blonde stood frozen in place for a moment, as nothing happened. However, it didn't take long for her to closer her eyes as memories began to surge through her mind, replacing the ones that hadn't made sense. She remembered everything from the feeling of despair at losing her stuffed elephant to the moment she had first set eyes on the beautiful Regina Mills. It may have taken her time to realise the extent of her feelings for the woman, but there was never any denying that she found her utterly breath-taking. Getting to know her and seeing her on her path to hard earned redemption had only shown her that she was attracted to Regina for far more than the way she looked and as her memories of the woman flashed through her mind, she couldn't help but feel like an idiot for never acting on her attraction.

Finally, she found that she was able to open her eyes after the onslaught of memories and she offered a quick smile over to the trio by the deputy's desk (while also making a quick note to ask where the others were). But then she turned her attention back to Regina.

"Thank you," she breathed, completely unable to resist her urge to bring her arms around the other woman's shoulder.

Before she could even realise that she was hugging the mayor for the first time, she felt her waist being circled as the older woman reciprocated the embrace and a huge smile spread across her face.

The hug went on for longer than could be considered appropriate, but Henry stopped Snow and Natalie from clearing their throats as he looked on with a huge smile on his face.

However, Emma soon felt the three sets of eyes on her back leaned back, causing Regina to release her hold and they awkwardly took a step away from each other (though they were still further into each other's personal space than most 'friends' would be).

"You're very welcome, Miss Swan."

* * *

Ingrid looked on with clenched fists as the mayor and the saviour embraced tightly,

She couldn't stand just how quickly they had managed to convince her that her that her memories were fake. Emma Swan was finally her sister, but it had lasted barely two hours before everything went completely wrong.

She knew that they had captured her, but she had been sure that their bond was strong enough for to escape and come back to her. Obviously, she had been wrong. All it had taken to break her illusion was for her mothers to talk about a few childhood memories and a couple meaningful look from the woman that she had a crush on.

It was utterly infuriating!

How was it fair that she never got what she wanted? Even after years of planning?

The potion had been a failure, granted, but she did think that it would be strong enough for what she had planned. Emma just had to convince Elsa to drink it and it had gone completely wrong.

Looking back to the mirror that she had been watching since she had sent Emma away, she took in a few short breaths as she heard the words _'you're very welcome, Miss Swan."_

Her face contorted one of pure anger and white smoke engulfed her instantly.

The moment she appeared in the station, the gleeful atmosphere died almost immediately and all eyes turned onto her.

"Ingrid…" Natalie breathed with wide eyes.

The blonde woman turned and looked at her briefly. Seeing her through the mirror was completely different to seeing her in the flesh. Instantly, she felt closed her eyes against the memories of that very same woman telling her to stay away from her family. It had of course occurred to her that she could have continued being a part of the Swan family and ignored what the Apprentice had told her about finding her sisters. Except for the years with her biological sisters, the time she had spent with the Swans had been the happiest of her life. She had been fully accepted and she found it rather easy to deal with being different while she was living in a world without magic. But that night, she couldn't resist helping Emma discover her true potential.

With a small huff, she turned away from the woman and back to the object of her fury.

"How dare you?!" she shouted, not quite sure whether she was talking to Emma or Regina.

The mayor took a step forward and held up her hands, looking over to Snow they had a silent conversation and the school teacher stood from her chair and stood in front of Henry.

"You can't possibly think that your ridiculous plan was going to work," Regina said, clenching her fingers in preparation of igniting a fireball.

"It would have worked perfectly if you hadn't interfered, how is it fair that I get robbed of the chance to have a family?!"

The mayor furrowed her brow and looked over her shoulder at the saviour who just shrugged to tell her that she understood about as much as to what the woman wanted.

Regina turned back to the Snow Queen, who was clearly working herself into a frenzy, and finally willed the fireball to form above her hand.

"You're not getting passed me this time," she sneered.

Ingrid tried to take a couple calming breaths and finally decided on why she was here, "I don't need to get passed you."

With that, she spun quickly and threw an ice blast at Snow and Regina reacted in just the way she expected her to. She threw the fireball without hesitation and it met the ice mid-air, each of them cancelling each other out.

After that, everything seemed to move in slow motion as she turned back around and threw the ice-ball she had formed in her other hand and it hit the former Evil Queen straight in the chest before anyone could move.

Regina brought her hand up to her chest with wide eyes and felt an intense cold seep into every vessel. Desperately, she tried to keep her eyes open, but she couldn't do so for more than about thirty seconds.

She heard faint cries of her name as well as 'mom' but her mind could hardly register who said what as she fell to her knees and allowed unconsciousness to claim her.

 **A/N I would love to hear what you thought :)**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter fifteen

"Regina!" Emma shouted as the woman crumpled to the ground in front of her. The blonde dropped to her knees and caught the brunette before her head could hit the ground.

In that moment, Emma could register nothing else but the woman's closed eyes and she desperately looked for any sign that she was alive. There was no twitch of muscle, no reaction when she squeezed her slightly tighter. The only thing that gave her any solace was the soft rise and fall of the mayor's chest. Though it worried her to no end that the movement was getting progressively shallower.

Finally, her other senses seemed to catch up to her surroundings as a laugh pierced her ears and she looked up to the insane blonde with all of the disdain that she could manage in her distraught state.

Softly, she placed Regina's head onto the ground and stood with shaking fists, "how dare you," she said, barely audibly.

Ingrid finally stopped her laughing and tilted her head, obviously she hadn't thought through what she had done, but at this point, she no longer cared. Shooting that ice blast had been pure catharsis, but now she had absolutely no idea what she was going follow up with. There was no way that she could ever get Emma's cooperation now and she wasn't skilled enough to attempt to force her to do anything.

She knew that she could simply just ice blast each person in this room, but the fact was that she still cared too much about the Swan family members to ever do such a thing.

"She ruined everything!" the blonde argued desperately, hoping that she could still try and make someone see her point of view, though she was no longer sure what it exactly was anymore.

Emma slowly extended her fingers and two intense balls of light energy exploded in her palms, "you ruined everything for yourself."

Ingrid shook her head and stumbled backwards, wondering whether she could use Snow or Henry to get out of this, but she doubted that trick would work again especially since she didn't actually want to hurt Emma.

Without further thought, Emma hurled one of the balls towards the Snow Queen, which hit her square in the chest.

Ingrid fell to her knees and let out a ragged breath and looked up pleadingly.

The younger blonde stalked towards her and prepared to shoot the other, stronger, energy ball at her, but she stopped when Henry frantically stepped around his grandmother and exclaimed, "ma!"

Emma closed her eyes and huffed, in her mind she imagined shooting the energy that could easily go straight through the Snow Queen's heart. But it wouldn't give her the satisfaction she thought it would and taking the woman's life wouldn't make Regina better.

After a hesitation, she forced herself to relax her hand and allowed the ball of magic to disappear.

Opening her eyes, she saw the relief on Ingrid's face and clenched her jaw and fist at the same time. Before she could even consider her next move, she drew back her arm and smashed her fist straight into the woman's nose, causing a crunching under her fingers.

Ingrid fell to the ground with blood running from her nose and the saviour waved her hand to send her over to the re-locked holding cell.

Emma blew out a deep breath and looked cautiously over to Natalie for any kind of disapproval, but she found the woman looking over to Regina with wide eyes and she followed her line of sight to the unconscious mayor.

The blonde waved her hand once more and willed the white smoke to take them all to the hospital.

* * *

Emma paced the waiting room, frantically biting at the nail of her right index finger.

Natalie and Snow watched her worriedly, while Henry had his fists clenched and was unconsciously bobbing his knee up and down.

The silence that hung over all of them was more than deafening, but no one knew what they could say. They had only been there for a mere ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity, especially to Emma.

She would have never imagined that her adoptive family visiting would result in any of this. The saviour thought that all they would have to do was pretend that everything was normal for just a week and then everything could go back to the way it was before they had come. She could go back to pretending that she didn't love being called Regina's girlfriend, go back to living with her parents instead of with her son and his other mother. But of course everything couldn't be normal in Storybrooke, not even for a week.

Emma never actually thought that she would tell the Swans about the trajectory that her life had taken. But then again, she never thought that she would tell Snow and Charming about her childhood. She now saw just how ridiculous she was being. As stressful as the week had been, it was nice to have Nathan and Natalie around and she had certainly missed her siblings. Plus, there was the fact that she had finally gotten to introduce her parents to their first grandchild, which was something that she had actually wanted to do for a while. She knew that Henry had three biological grandparents, but she couldn't help but want to give him the chance to experience some of what the Swans had given her.

After all that had happened, she had just hoped that everyone could come out unscathed and the snow wall would come down, but now the woman she had secretly been in love with for a long time was lay in a hospital bed being treated by a doctor who probably had no idea how to cure her.

"What is taking so long?" she finally growled.

Henry looked up from his lap and shot his mother a sympathetic look but made no attempt to comfort her since he had been thinking exactly the same thing.

Natalie opened her mouth to say something, but quickly realised that she knew nothing that could possibly comfort her daughter, so instead she looked over to Snow expectantly.

Emma furrowed her brow as she watched their little exchange. She was becoming steadily more sure that the pair of them would never be able to get along. But it now hit that they had been talking so civilly in the station before she had been given the potion and now they were actually sitting next to one another. Considering that they could hardly bare to be in the same room as each other she had to admit that she was rather impressed.

"Whale isn't a magic expert, Emma, but he will probably be able to do something that gives us time to figure out a way to save her…"

Emma sighed deeply and fell into the chair next to Henry, "we know how to save her, we just need to find her True Love."

Natalie frowned for a second as her mind tried to come to terms with the fact that True Love's Kiss must actually be a thing since she was sitting next to a very much awake Snow White. A moment later, she asked, "does True Love have to be romantic?"

Henry shook his head listlessly and replied, "nope, both of my moms have broken curses by kissing me…"

"Then surely you could fix this by kissing her?"

The boy sighed and shook his head again, "me and Belle were talking about it once and she gave me a book that she'd read. Because I don't love one of them more than the other, my kiss wouldn't be strong enough to break any curse…"

Emma blew out a breath of frustration as the hope violently died in her stomach. She was aware that she had a lot to learn about magic, but she had to admit that the reason she hadn't put as much effort into it as she probably should have was because it seemed like it was mostly bullshit. The rules seemed to chance for no apparent reason and she found it hard to believe that Henry didn't love her enough to break the curse. Of course, she knew that the boy was right and that the reason that she didn't want to believe it because she knew exactly who the other option was to give Regina a curse breaking kiss.

Before she could voice her disdain for a certain thief who they would probably have to call, she was interrupted by the sound of the door opening to reveal Victor Whale.

The doctor strode over to them and Henry said in a worried voice, "it's only been fifteen minutes…"

Whale took a deep breath and replied, "I have done all I can to make her as warm as possible, but it doesn't appear as though anything is going to raise her core temperature…"

Emma ran a hand across her face, she hadn't been expecting a miracle, but it would have been nice if they had a crisis that could be treated by doctors at least once.

"How long?" she asked.

"As far as I can tell, the magic seems to be moving somewhat slowly…my best guess would be a few hours…" he replied.

The saviour sighed again, but nodded, "can we go and see her?"

Whale nodded and Emma instantly rose to her feet followed closely by Henry.

"We'll find a way to fix this, Emma," Snow assured as she and Natalie also stood up.

The blonde smiled gratefully, but somewhat sadly, at both of her mothers and turned on her heels to follow Whale towards her best friend's hospital room.

* * *

"Regina was shot with…ice?" Blake repeated after Charming had read out the message his wife had been sent by his wife.

Charming nodded and rubbed his temple with his finger.

"On the bright side…Emma got the memories back," the prince replied, sighing as he fell to sit on the coffee table in front of the three Swans sat on the sofa.

"So how do we fix the new problem?" Nathan asked almost hopefully.

"An Act of True Love," Elsa supplied from behind the couch where she had been pacing with her arms crossed. "That was how I saved Anna from the same thing…"

"So…True Love's Kiss?" Riley asked, excitement clinging to her voice.

"I suppose that would work," Elsa shrugged, "it has only happened once in Arendelle…I'm not exactly sure on the rules…"

"True Love's Kiss will work," Riley said quickly practically vibrating, "and then Regina and Emma can live happily ever after…"

"Regina and Emma aren't actually together," Charming said with a tilted head, "you do know that, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know they're not together now, but they will be. Emma just have to realise that she's the one who has to save her."

David raised his eyebrows and looked over to Nathan, who just shrugged.

"Have you been planning something with Henry by any chance?" the blond asked, allowing a small smirk to tug at the corner of his lips. He had known that his grandson had been up to something, but he hadn't thought that it was an operation to get his mothers together.

Riley bit her lip and shook her head unconvincingly as her brother put his head in his hand next to her trying to hide his small laugh.

"I knew he was up to something," Charming laughed lightly, "and they definitely need something to get them see what's happening between them."

All of the people in the room fell into silence as they all absorbed this for a second, but Elsa asked, "how is it that Emma was able to get her memories back so quickly?"

David looked over to her and replied, "as far as I can tell, the potion that Ingrid forced her to drink was weak…why?"

"Is there a chance that the same solution would work on my…memory issue?" she asked almost desperately. She knew that she had been rather quiet through everything that was happening, but she still wanted to get back to her sister and her kingdom.

"We will try," David said as reassuringly as possible, "it would be best if we don't try until Regina is awake…"

Elsa nodded her understanding, but allowed herself to relax slightly. She knew that she must have been associated with Ingrid in some way since she wanted Emma to give her the potion, so did that mean that she was the reason that she was stuck here with no memories? If so, then the heroes should be able to help her as easily as they had helped Emma and then everything would go back to normal.

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Blake asked.

"Well, there's nothing we can really do but wait for Emma to stop being stubborn and realise that she needs to kiss Regina."

* * *

-One hour later-

"It didn't work!" Emma sighed as she snapped the fifth magic book closed. She was sure that if Regina survived this, she would probably be yelled at for taking things from her vault without express permission, but in this moment she didn't really care. At least if she was being yelled at by the former queen, then it would mean that the woman wasn't laying unmoving in an excessively warm hospital room.

Natalie placed a hand on her daughter's arm and said softly, "I thought that you said that True Love's Kiss would fix this…"

The blonde blew out a breath and threw the magical tome onto the bed side table before moving to pick up the next one. As she pored through the pages, she tried not to think about the intense disappointment she had felt after convincing Henry to at least try and kiss Regina. He had obviously known that it wouldn't work, but had done as he was told nonetheless so that Emma would completely believe him. She knew that the reason she had been so insistent that he at least try was because it would mean that she wouldn't have to try their next option.

"Do you even understand those books?" Henry asked from behind her.

"Some of them…" she replied with her brow pinched in concentration, "Regina tried to make me learn the whole language but I wasn't really a very good student…"

"Language?" Natalie asked, peering over to the symbols on the page.

"Elvish," Emma replied casually, not even reacting to her mother's shocked expression that would have been funny in any other situation.

After a moment though, the oldest woman in the room reached forward and took the book out of the sheriff's hands and said, "you seem to know whose kiss will work…so why are you bothering with these books?"

"Because her True Love is probably Robin…" Emma finally admitted.

Natalie looked over to Snow and Henry in confusion and replied, "Robin…Hood? As in the fox?"

"He's more of a dick than a fox," Emma mumbled and took the book back from her mother to place it with the others.

"They broke up, ma," Henry quickly inserted, "I don't think they can be True Loves…"

"According to Tinkerbell they're soulmates…why wouldn't they be True Loves?" Emma sighed, falling into the chair next to Natalie and looked to Regina almost pleadingly, wanting her to wake up so that she could tell her that she never wanted to kiss that douche again.

Natalie blew out a breath and asked, "Tinkerbell?"

"Yeah…when Regina was like eighteen she used pixie dust to find out who her soulmate is and she said it was the man with the lion tattoo…meaning that her soulmate has to be Robin Hood…"

"Are you sure that it has to be a man? Could…it be 'the woman with the lion tattoo'?"

"I…don't know…why?" the blonde asked with a furrowed brow.

Natalie reached forward and slowly rolled up the sleeve on Emma's left arm, "a Lyon tattoo," she said simply.

Emma's mouth dropped open slightly as she looked at the tattoo intently. The thought had of course occurred to her before, but she tried to convince herself that it could be possible since she wasn't even born when Tinkerbell had used the pixie dust. Then she would think that could be precisely why the fairy would believe that Robin was her soulmate. Plus, there was the fact that she hadn't always been too convinced about the legitimacy of the whole soulmate thing considering that there had always been so much emphasis on True Loves.

"I…I don't…" she stuttered, looking over to Snow, expecting to see the kind of intense disapproval that she had imagined every time she thought about telling her about how she felt about Regina. However, the school teacher was basically wearing the same expression as Natalie was, in fact, she looked rather excited about the prospect.

"That makes sense," Snow said, seeing that her oldest child was looking to her for some kind of sign of how she felt about it.

"Really?" Emma blanched.

"Of course," the brunette replied, "you and Regina being together makes sense for everyone…"

"I wouldn't say that it makes sense for everyone."

The saviour felt anger flair instantly at the sound of the very irritating voice and she looked over to the door to see the very thief they had been talking about.

"Why are you here?" she practically growled, defensively standing up so that Robin couldn't really see Regina's face.

"The mayor being attacked is the talk of the diner," he replied, stalking closer into the room, "why wouldn't you tell me what happened?"

"Because she broke up with you," the blonde shot back, "why would I tell you?"

"Because, I'm the only one in this town who can save her. Are you really willing to risk her life because she needed time to realise that she was being completely irrational?"

Emma clenched her jaw. She would never stand for homophobia and right now was not the time to remind her of what he had done. In that moment, she decided that there was no way that Robin Hood could be Regina's True Love. She knew that the woman had been dealt a terrible hand by the universe, but it would just be utterly cruel to make him her soulmate. Regina didn't deserve to be with a man wo could never accept her and there was no way that she was going to allow him to put his lips on hers ever again.

As he came closer, her hands curled into fists and she shifted into a more aggressive stance, "get out Robin, this is nothing to do with you."

"This has everything to do with you," he replied, entering her personal space, "Regina is mi…"

Before he could finish the last word, Emma's fist flew at his face and he let out a garbled nose since she had aimed at the same spot that Blake had punched him.

"Regina doesn't belong to anyone and if you try anything again, I'm sure that she will throw something much worse than a punch at you."

Robin let out a few deep breaths before he pulled his hands away from his burning face and replied, "that is never going to happen if she doesn't wake up."

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. Now you should leave since I'm assuming you don't have health insurance," she replied, clenching her fists tighter for emphasis.

The thief swallowed hard and considered arguing further, but he had seen the power that the saviour had and he was aware that he couldn't win this fight.

It was for the reason that he quickly stumbled backwards and shot a final dirty look at the sheriff before he fled the room.

Natalie and Snow looked at their daughter in shock for a moment and Henry asked, "does this mean that you'll kiss mom?"

Emma swallowed hard and tried to reply, but instead she just looked over to Regina's closed eyes.

"Maybe we should give Emma some privacy," Snow announced, standing from her chair and looking between Natalie and Henry.

The blonde's shoulders relaxed and she smiled at her birth mother thankfully. There was no way that she wanted anyone to see what was about to happen, especially because she couldn't put aside the thought that it might not work.

"We'll be right outside," Natalie assured softly.

Emma nodded again and said, "thanks guys."

The three of them began to make their way over to the door, but the youngest of them seemed to think better of it and ran over to his blonde mother, engulfing her in a hug.

"I know that you can save her, ma," he whispered into her ear.

Emma brought her hands up to rest on his back and she gently rubbed it, "I'll try."

 **A/N I would love to hear what you thought :)**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter sixteen

Silence reigned in the waiting room as the school teacher and brunette boy sat and waited. Natalie had decided to go back to the loft to check on her other two children, since they had figured that the rest of the group would probably need some more help completely understanding the rather strange situation. That had left Snow and Henry to wait outside the room, eagerly anticipating the burst of light that would mean that Regina's frozen heart had been thawed.

Henry rang his hands together and he felt someone place their hand over his shoulder.

"You know it will work, Henry," Snow whispered softly.

The boy nodded slowly, but there was a hint of worry consuming his features. He couldn't help but think about what would happen if it didn't work. He refused to believe that Robin was her True Love, but if Emma's kiss didn't work, he knew that they would probably have to go crawling back to him and beg for his help after refusing it. Then, his kiss might not work. There was every chance that Regina's True Love was her first love and that by bringing Emma to Storybrooke, he had robbed her the chance of having his own kiss work.

"What if it doesn't?" he asked in a small voice, "I know for a fact that they love each other, but even you and grandma had kisses that didn't work…"

"That was different," Snow sighed, gently running her hand through his hair, "I took a memory potion to try and forget him so I didn't remember just how much I loved him. Emma and Regina both have their memories and I'm pretty sure that they are very much aware of just how much the care about one another. They might be the two stubbornest people that any of us know, but admitting love out loud is not the only way to know that another person loves you…"

Henry furrowed his brow and asked, "what do you mean?"

"They might not have told each other how they feel, but the reason that everyone in town knows is because of the way they act around each other. It is obvious to even someone who has never met them before that they will do almost anything to protect the other. Just because they probably try and justify their actions as doing it for you, I know for a fact that there is no way that they can think that is the only reason…" she said, gently running her fingers through his hair.

The younger brunette thought this through for a moment, before he asked, "so you would really be okay if they were together?"

Snow smiled at him, obviously he had thought that she and Charming could have been a possible obstacle to his operation.

"I wasn't okay with it when I first noticed and it honestly took me a long time after I first saw something between them to accept what it could be. It can't be denied that they make an excellent couple and that they already act like they've been married for years," she chuckled. "Plus, what grandmother wouldn't want their grandson to have his parents be together?"

"It seems so simple when you say it like that," Henry sighed heavily.

The older brunette squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. She could tell that he was thinking about why it had taken so long for one of his mothers to even admit the possibility of them being together.

"Nothing is as simple as it seems, especially love," she replied, "but it just makes it all the more worth it."

Henry frowned as he considered her words. It was hard to deny that Snow White and Prince Charming hadn't gone through a lot before they were finally allowed to be happy together and even when they were together, they still had to face crisis after crisis.

"How?" he asked in a small voice.

"It's comforting to know that I'm with someone who would be willing to do literally anything to save me from harm and it's even better to know that his kiss can save me from any curse. During hard times, it all may not seem worth it for split second, but it doesn't take long for that to fade. Regina and Emma have both experienced…difficult times during their lives, so it can make it hard for them to accept being completely happy. But trust me, once they are, all of those worries will be distant memories."

Henry nodded slowly, before he asked, "do you just come up with these hope speeches off the cuff or do you plan them?"

Snow let out a laugh and shook her head, "you're so much like Regina," she sighed as she pulled him closer into a hug.

* * *

Emma bit the inside of her cheek and watched the woman carefully.

For a moment, she managed to convince herself that Regina was just asleep and that she wouldn't have to do something that would change the dynamic of their relationship forever.

If it did work, they would have to deal with what it meant to be True Loves. Despite the fact that Emma knew exactly what that meant, she was having a hard time imagining that her and Regina would ever be the kind of couple that her parents were.

But at the same time, she couldn't stop the thoughts of what would happen if it didn't work. She would probably have to go and get Robin and beg him to have the chance that she had denied him. The very thought of his kiss working made her blood boil. She didn't want to live in a world where Regina was destined to be with that man forever.

Of course, there was always the third option that she didn't even want to think about, but it still kept creeping into her mind. If neither of their kisses worked, it could mean that Regina's chance at True Love had already passed with Daniel. Having experienced what, it was like to almost freeze to death, she couldn't imagine that even the woman with the most resilient of hearts would be able to survive much longer without some help.

Emma sucked in a pained breath when an image of telling Henry that she couldn't save Regina crossed her mind. Then, of course, there were the thoughts of what it would be like to live without the woman. She would no doubt feel forever guilty for not being able to give the former queen the happy ending she had promised, but she also couldn't help but think that there was no way that she would be able to have her own happy ending if the brunette didn't wake up.

The blonde could feel almost every muscle in her body tense as she shifted in her seat and tried to tell herself that all she had to do was lean forward and kiss the mayor. It was certainly something that she had wanted to do for a while, but even in her most wistful of fantasies, she had never thought that their first kiss would be shared while one of them was on their death bed.

"Okay…" she said, her voice coming out almost hoarse after having just sat in silence for over ten minutes, "I can do this…"

Emma took in a few deep breaths and shifted to lean closer, but her body seemed to think better of it and stopped her without her consent.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she stood angrily from her chair.

"Why is this so hard?" she asked Regina as if she could hear her. "I've wanted to kiss you for so long and now I have a perfectly good reason to actually do it. It isn't like you can slap me…or fireball me…but if it doesn't work then I'm just kissing an unconscious woman who obviously doesn't love me as much as I love her and that's just creepy."

When the woman finished the little rant, she quickly realised that she had been talking to herself and instantly felt crazier than she had a moment ago.

Shakily, she brought her hand up to wipe away the few stray tears that had made their way down her cheeks without permission and then she moved her other hand to rest gently on the brunette's cheek. Instantly, she winced at just how cold her skin was to her touch and she swallowed hard.

 _You have no choice, Swan,_ she told herself, _you can totally do this._

"Please don't fireball me," she whispered as she slowly stroked her thumb across her skin and leaned in closer.

Emma hesitated for a split second, but she just told herself to stop being a coward and closed the space.

The moment that her lips touched the older woman's she closed her eyes.

The saviour couldn't even register the light bursting out from the place where their lips touched as she felt an unexplainable electricity shoot through her body.

She continued to move her lips for a couple more seconds before she realised that the other woman wasn't reciprocating and she quickly sprang back up to a standing position. Before she opened her eyes, she felt worry bubble up in her stomach as she thought about what she could possibly say to Robin to get him to come back and try his kiss. She would no doubt have to tell him that her trying to kiss Regina hadn't worked. She would have to admit that she wasn't Regina's True Love, which meant that they could never be together. It meant that she wasn't Regina's happy ending as she had dreamed of being.

The sheriff took a couple of heaving breaths as the thought literally made her want to throw up.

She was about to will her magic to poof her away, since she couldn't stand the thought of opening her eyes and seeing that the brunette was in exactly the same position as she had been in before.

Before she could, though, she heard the sound of someone shifting in the bed and her eyes sprang open.

Emma let out a massive sigh of relief when her emerald eyes met Regina's beautifully chocolate brown ones. The older woman had her brow furrowed and was looking around in confusion, but other than that, she looked far better than she had a moment ago. The colour was slowly but surely returning to her skin and even though she still looked rather weak, Emma had no doubt that it was nothing that couldn't be resolved with a boat load of blankets and some time to allow the heat to completely return to her body.

"What happened?" Regina asked, her voice very much scratchy.

Emma's mouth dropped open slightly and her throat constricted.

"You…don't remember anything?"

The mayor looked up at the saviour through bleary eyes and pushed herself up so that she was in a sitting position.

"I…remember Ingrid appearing after you had your memories returned," she said slowly as her foggy mind tried to piece everything together. "Then she threw an ice blast…" she continued, bringing her hand up to rest on her heart where it had hit her. The woman frowned when she didn't feel the intense cold that she had expected from an ice blast to the heart. "How am I alive?"

"I…" the blonde began, instantly wondering whether it would be a good idea to tell her the truth. It could be very possible that the woman wasn't ready to be with her even if they were verified True Loves. Emma certainly didn't want her to feel as though she was obligated to be with her. "Er…"

Regina watched the woman think about it; however, as the blonde thought about it, she felt the fogginess start to fade from her mind. She looked around the room and a small grin began to tug at the corner of her lips as the implications began to register.

"I'm guessing that it was an act of True Love," she said, quirking an eyebrow at the younger woman.

Emma swallowed hard and bit the inside of her cheek, "that is usually the answer, right?" she laughed nervously, trying to remain as vague as possible.

The brunette tilted her head and continued to look at her expectantly. She knew that she was being somewhat cruel for allowing the other woman to freak out, but she found it so adorable that she couldn't help it.

"Yeah…it was True Love's Kiss," the saviour said, desperately trying to stall for time.

"And you're the only person in the room, Miss Swan," Regina pointed out.

The blonde opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, but her lips just moved as though she was trying to form words but her mouth wouldn't allow her.

"I…I'm really sorry, I know that it's really creepy that I kissed you when you weren't awake…but Robin wanted to try and do it and he pissed me off so much that I just punched him and sent him out. I really shouldn't have done that, but he said that you was his and I couldn't stand the thought of him being right…"

"Emma," Regina said, with a hint of amusement in her voice, but when she continued to rant, tried again slightly louder, "Emma!"

The saviour stopped talking with wide eyes and looked over to the older woman with a somewhat shocked expression.

"Why you apologising for saving my life, Miss Swan?" she asked.

Emma furrowed her brow for a second and replied while falling back into the plastic chair, "you do know how I saved your life, right?"

Regina smiled, before she leaned forward without warning and captured the blonde's lips in her own. The younger woman stayed completely still for a moment, but once her senses caught up with what was happening, she brought her hand up and tangled her hand in the former queen's brown locks.

They stayed in that position, for about twenty seconds, moving their lips passionately against one another's, before Regina leaned back and smirked at Emma's dumbfounded expression.

"I would imagine that it went something like that," she laughed.

The blonde nodded slowly as she took in what had just happened. But once she did, a massive smile spread across her face and she brought her chair closer to the bed.

"So you're not going to fireball me?" she asked.

"Of course not, you idiot. Fireballs are reserved for those I'm not in love with."

 **A/N I hope you guys enjoyed :) there should be one more chapter and possibly an epilogue if you guys want it**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter seventeen

-Two days later-

"Do you really have to go?" Riley asked in a small voice.

Elsa smiled at the timid girl and looked around the Charming's apartment where everyone was preparing for what was coming. After taking the potion provided begrudgingly provided by Mr Gold, she had gotten her memories back just as quickly as Emma had. It had turned out that Ingrid had spiked her drink in Arendelle, but the potion she had prepared had just taken away a few months of her memories instead of completely rewriting them. Out of desperation, the woman had used the urn to trap her niece in because she knew that she would be getting another chance to fulfil her plan if the future.

With her memories returned, her resolve to return home had only strengthened. She trusted Anna and Kristoff completely to take care of her kingdom, but she knew that her little sister would be worried out of her mind and it wasn't as if she had spent her childhood studying how to be queen as intensely as she had.

Emma had been more than willing to help her figure out how to get home and Regina had done so successfully rather quickly. Now that they no longer had to be worried about an impending attack from an insane Snow Queen, the former Evil Queen had been able to piece together the fact that she had come thirty years from the past along with Emma and Hook. Gold had agreed to help the mayor figure out how to reopen the portal and send her back, mostly because her leaving would mean that things could officially go back to normal and he could go back to trying to lie low.

The blonde placed a hand lightly on the girl's shoulder and replied, "I'm afraid so. As much as I have enjoyed my time here, my family is in Arendelle. You would want to go home if you were forced into another realm, wouldn't you?"

Riley took in a deep breath and tried to stop herself from pouting. She was already pretty sad that she knew that she would be returning home soon since Elsa had been able to remember how to bring down the ice wall.

"I guess so," she sighed, before she launched forward and threw herself into her mid-section, "I'm really going to miss you."

Elsa was stunned for a moment, but it didn't take her long to smile and bring her hand up to rest on her shoulder, "I'll miss you too, I'll never forget the person who taught me to make a sandwich," she laughed as Riley joined into the laugh.

* * *

"Why are you staring at me, Swan?" Regina asked as her eyes moved over the symbols on the book, though she was smiling despite the words she said.

"Why can't I stare at you?" the blonde asked, feigning hurt as she pouted.

The brunette sighed and looked up from the book to meet the emerald eyes and she replied, "I'm trying to make sure that your friend gets home safely. Do you honestly believe that it is best to distract me?"

Emma made a point of looking around the vault that she had been sat in for the last half an hour, before she said, "you could easily ignore me if you wanted."

Regina shook her head and she leaned forward to capture the other woman's lips in her own for a few moments, which caused a dopey expression to spread across her face,

"You know very well that isn't quite as possible as you make it seem."

"It isn't my fault that you can't keep your hands off me, your majesty," Emma laughed as she crossed her arms over her chest triumphantly. "We haven't even been on our first date yet and you already kiss me at every possible second…"

"I believe that saving my life trumps the tradition of the first date, dear," Regina said, finally closing the book. She knew that there was no way that she would be able to focus with the adorable blonde around. Especially now that she had no reason to deny just how adorable she found her to be anymore.

"Well we still need to have that soon, you know? I want to be able to introduce you as my girlfriend…"

The brunette laughed lightly and brought her hand over to clasp the blonde's, "I'm surprised that you haven't already been doing that…"

"That isn't how courtship works, my queen," Emma said rather dramatically,

Regina felt herself flush at the use of that title and decided to file away that reaction for later, before she replied, "you do know that if this was a true courtship, we shouldn't really be holding hands…and there is absolutely no way that I will be asking any of your parents' permission to date you…"

The blonde smirked slightly as she imagined just how excited her mother would get and then there was the thought of her father trying to give his former enemy the 'I'll kill you if you hurt my daughter' speech. She could more than understand why the woman would choose to avoid that. And she'd already had the 'meet the parents dinner' with the Swans, even if it was a fake relationship, asking for permission still seemed rather redundant.

"That's not very chivalrous of you, madam mayor," she teased.

"I am not the one who needs to be chivalrous in this relationship, I believe that your Charming genetics will have that covered for the both of us for years to come…though I do agree that we should have our first date as soon as possible. As much as I enjoyed family movie night last evening, Henry pretending to throw up whenever we kissed was not particularly romantic…"

Emma couldn't stop herself from smiling at the memory. After she had kissed Regina a couple more times, Henry had burst into the hospital room after clearly having gotten very much impatient with being forced to wait. He all but leaped onto the bed to embrace both of his mothers. Even if he wanted to act like a typical kid and pretend that his parents kissing was repulsive, the small grin he wore whenever they were affectionate hadn't escaped Emma's notice.

"That is precisely why you should allow me to finish my research. The sooner Elsa can safely take Ingrid back to Arendelle for judgement, the sooner you can ask me on a date," the brunette said as she opened the book.

The saviour nodded her agreement, but she furrowed her brow and asked, "why do I have to be the one to ask you out?"

Regina looked up from the book and shook her head, before she turned to the other woman and asked, "Emma, would you like to go on a date with me on Friday night?"

Emma's pouting face split into a huge grin and shrugged, "I have work on Friday."

"I'm sure your boss would be willing to work out any scheduling issues."

The sheriff tried to hold back a laugh as she said, "I don't know, Gina, she's a bit of a hard-ass, especially when it comes to paperwork…"

"Maybe that's because you never do it," Regina said flatly, trying to give the other woman a serious expression, though she couldn't really maintain it for long.

"Well it's a good thing that she probably has a huge crush on me, that's probably why she has never tried to fire me."

"Just because you're terrible at paperwork, I would say that being the saviour is more than qualification enough in this town. Now can you please just say yes so that the crisis will actually be over in time for a date?"

"You're such a romantic…" Emma pouted.

"And you're just stalling, Miss Swan," Regina replied, before she took a step forward to put her hands around the other woman's neck.

The blonde's retort died on her tongue and she automatically brought her hands up to her waist, "of course you know it's a yes," she sighed.

The brunette smirked triumphantly and leaned forward to steal another kiss before she said, "the Swans are going to be leaving tomorrow, so I think that you should probably go and join them for lunch while you can."

Emma was about to protest, before she remembered that it had been over a year since she had last seen them and she knew that it wouldn't bode well for her if she skipped lunch because she wanted to spend time with the woman who she lived in the same town as.

The saviour nodded and pulled the brunette closer to join their lips again, before she released her from their embrace and took a step back.

"I'll see you later, babe," she laughed.

Regina's face contorted into one of disgust and she shook her head, "I did not agree to that nickname, Swan!"

"You didn't agree to any of them, so I picked one," the blonde laughed as she continued to take steps back. "Just remember how much you love me and you can get used to it."

The mayor sighed deeply in mock exasperation, but she couldn't find herself able to deny her words.

Once the woman was gone, she looked back down to the page and resolved to find a pet name that would make irritate the blonde.

* * *

Natalie rubbed at her temple and continued to look at the page set out on the table in front of her.

Snow continued to add names and the school teacher tilted her head as she looked for some spare space and drew a line from Emma Swan, just about managing to add Natalie, Nathan and Blake.

"I think that's right…" she said as she looked at the completed family tree.

Natalie and Nathan smiled at the fact that she had added them to it, but that was pretty much the only part that they understood.

"Regina is Emma's step-grandmother?" Nathan asked with a furrowed brow, wondering if he was reading it correctly.

"Ex-step-grandmother, technically," Snow corrected, he nodded, though he looked rather confused, "they're in no way related."

"So Henry is in the line for how many thrones?"

Snow tilted her head and allowed her eyes to move over the family tree before she said uncertainly, "…three…and Emma has a claim to two…"

"Okay…I think I get it…" Natalie frowned, her hand briefly moved over to Neal's name. She could hardly believe that Emma's connection with the Enchanted Forest had started in her teenage years.

The three of them fell into silence for a few moments as the two Swans continued to stare at the image that Snow had drawn for them.

After about two minutes passed, David walked over to the three of them and fell into a chair with an exhausted sigh, "Neal didn't want to settle…that would have taken so much longer without the white noise…"

Natalie returned the grateful smile that he shot her way and before anyone could say another word, the front door opened as two teens and a child filed in.

"You're crazy. The Flash could run fast enough to beat any of the Avengers! Superman would be able to laser Thor before he could even raise that stupid hammer and you just know that Batman would be able to find a way to stop Iron Man's suit from working…"

Blake fell onto the couch with a triumphant smirk as she watched Henry try to think of a retort and Riley rolled her eyes as she came over to sit on her mother's lap while she looked confusedly at the family tree on the table.

"The MCU is obviously better than anything DC has done…I mean, have you seen Arrow?"

The older brunette narrowed his eyes and huffed, "that is just Felicity and Friends now, it doesn't count in a DC vs Marvel debate."

"That means that you can't count the Grant Gustin version of the Flash either," Henry shot back.

"They've been talking about this for like an hour," Riley sighed as she placed her head on her mother's shoulder. Obviously the girl was wishing that she had decided against one last look around Storybrooke, it was her only option though to be fair since Elsa had decided to go for a nap since she had been unable to sleep since she had gotten her memories back. Worrying about the state of her kingdom and her sister weighed heavily on her mind, not matter how much Regina assured her that she would be returning to the day that she left so that she would be able to prevent anything bad from happening to her kingdom.

"Sorry you had to go through that," Natalie laughed as she brought her arm around the blonde tightly.

A ringing sounded out that anyone could say something and Nathan pulled the phone out of his pocket and he let out a sigh. They had informed the schools that there might be a personal issue that could prevent them from attending school after their planned vacation.

"They want to know whether Blake will be back next week…" he said, looking over to his wife.

It wasn't as if they didn't know they were leaving tomorrow and that they had to leave since they had responsibilities outside of Storybrooke, but that didn't change the fact that it as rather bittersweet. They had finally gotten to spend time with their daughter after so long and Storybrooke was a far nicer town when it wasn't in crisis. Especially since the crisis of the feud between the Charmings and the Swans was finally over.

Snow looked between them for a couple of seconds and she said, "Thanksgiving is in a few months…and Regina has about six guest rooms. I'm sure now that they're not actually pretending, she wouldn't mind you staying there for the holidays."

Natalie and Nathan exchanged before the female of the two of them said, "we would like that."

* * *

-The next day-

"Well, that was an eventual visit," Natalie chuckled, which caused Emma to laugh too.

The Swans, Henry and Regina were stood at town line which was now completely free of the ice wall.

Riley looked over her shoulder and thought back to being allowed to see Elsa bring it down. It had been one of the most amazing things that she had ever seen and it caused a pang of sadness in a stomach. The girl clutched the photo in her hand closer to her body. Even if the concept of a photograph had confused the queen of Arendelle, she had still allowed Riley to have a picture taken with her before she went through the portal that Regina had opened for her.

Emma looked over to her pouting little sister and offered her a grin to tell her that everything would be okay and the younger girl actually mustered a smile in return.

"Hopefully next time it won't be," Emma replied.

Natalie nodded her agreement and stepped forward to engulf her daughter in a hug as she kissed her forehead at the same time and then Nathan did the same when his wife managed to release her and step back.

"We'll call you when we get home," the woman assured.

The blonde smiled at her and said, "thanks mom."

Said woman looked around for a split second, silently wishing that Snow and Charming were also there to say goodbye, but she was also grateful that they were willing to allow them to have a moment with intruding. At this rate, she had no doubt that they could actually become friends despite her earlier thoughts that it could never happen.

Emma went over to hug Riley and force a hug from Blake and Natalie turned her attention to Regina and Henry.

The younger of the two came forward without a second thought to allow his new found grandmother to pull him into a hug.

Regina smiled at the scene, but still shifted rather awkwardly. She was rather surprised when the Swans actually hadn't been mad at her for pretending to be with their daughter and she hadn't actually been left alone with them for their entire visit.

That changed now, however, as Henry went over to say goodbye to his aunt and uncle.

She bit the inside of her cheek, but still managed to smile at the parents of her girlfriend.

Natalie raised her eyebrows at the woman's obvious anxiety. Considering all of the things she had seen her do and read about in the storybook, she found it hard to believe that this woman could possibly be nervous around them.

She stepped forward and tentatively brought her arms around Regina's shoulders and whispered, "can I ask something of you?"

The former queen nodded as her muscles tensed.

"Please continue to protect my child?"

Regina blew out a breath and allowed herself to relax and replied, "no problem."

Emma smiled as she watched the hug happening before her, Regina looked far more comfortable than she had in the diner.

Natalie finally released the brunette and motioned for Emma to come over to stand next to her girlfriend.

"Please try not have your memories rewritten before Thanksgiving," Natalie said looking deadly serious.

"I promise to try," Emma laughed.

 **A/N So this is the last official chapter XD I will be doing an epilgoue, but it won't be right away, I'll try and make it sooner rather than later :)**

 **I need to thank my beta QueenApples for being awesome and PerditusFic for getting me to be productive haha**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this fic and I would love to hear what you thought :)**


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